


Mao Mao and Badgerclops: Prophetic Dreams and Slot Machines

by Arcadiusdragoneyes



Category: Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Casinos, Dreams and Nightmares, Drinking, Fluff, Found Family, Gambling, Idiots in Love, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Mao Mao loves sweet foods you can't tell me otherwise, Mutual Pining, Mystery, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slowburn but Mao Mao burns fast
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-01-05 14:14:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 50,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21209891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arcadiusdragoneyes/pseuds/Arcadiusdragoneyes
Summary: The Pureheart Valley Sheriff's department go a vacation together, but end up going on their own kind of adventures along the way. Mao Mao with his feelings and strange dreams, Badgerclops with his past, and Adorabat with her future, with the common theme, of needing to be brave.





	1. Lucky Cat Black Cat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprising no one at all I am a huge fan of Mao Mao, and of course a huge fan of BadgerMao so lord knows this fic was inevitable. So enjoy this nonsense my love of Mao Mao, and Casinos has cooked up.

It was dark, Mao Mao liked the dark. It was cold, Mao Mao didn't like the cold. He reached out fumbling for the warm blanket and pulled it over him once again, he must have kicked it off while he was asleep. Though there was no point in going back to sleep, he'd just have another nightmare, so instead he waited for his eyes to adjust to the dark, the slats of the bunk above his slowly fading into view with the pale moonlight creeping in through the window, and the poorly patched hole in the ceiling. He blinked once, twice, three times, good he could see, kicking off the blanket again he got out of bed careful not to make a sound. He wrapped himself in his cape and headed out into the living room, "Oh Mao-." He jumped across the room towards the coffee table landing with poise, reaching towards his waist for his sword, it wasn't there, it was next to his bed.

"Who-! Oh, it's just you Badgerclops." He settled down, making out the frame of his friend in the dark, "I knew that of course."

"Sure dude." Badgerclops whispered crossing the room and sat on the couch, patting the spot next to him for Mao Mao to sit, which he obliged, "So... What are you doing up?"

"Oh uh," 'I had a nightmare' was a sufficiently un-heroic response, "Just, getting some night vision training in, you never know when we'll have to fight in the dark." It was a very half-baked lie, he wasn't sure if Badgerclops would figure it out or not.

"You know my arm has a flashlight right man?" Good, he simply shrugged in response, though his night vision was getting better, he could make out more of his friends features now. His eye-patch, his perpetually shut eye, the vague hint of whiskers next to his nose, his mouth usually curved into a charming smile.

Mao Mao cleared his throat, "So what are you doing up?" Mao Mao felt him scoot closer on the couch, or was he the one getting closer...

"Well..." There was a sudden tinge to his voice that wasn't there, "What if I was up hoping to have a chance encounter with a certain black cat~." Oh yeah, however it was occurring they were definitely getting closer together.

"W-what's that supposed to mean?" Mao Mao asked a wave of panic starting to consume him, he should have grabbed Geraldine before he came out here, what if this wasn't Badgerclops, and someone who simply looked like his friend, Tanya? The badger hooked a claw under his chin arcing his head up to look at him.

"You're bad luck you know, but I don't believe that- someone just needs to get to know you better." He leaned in, Mao Mao didn't feign to resist, he wanted this...

"MAO MAO!" The sudden shout snapped him awake, he thrashed about some struggling under his blanket throwing it aside and bounding out of bed drawing his sword.

"What! What's the emergency!" The source of the shoat was Adorabat, his deputy, she was fluttering the air peacefully by his bed.

"The _emergency_ is Badgerclops is gonna eat your breakfast if you don't get out there!" Breakfast? This was about breakfast?

"But- I'm on kitchen duty today..." He said quietly grabbing his scabbard and attaching it to his belt sheathing his sword and following Adorabat to the kitchen.

"I know! But you overslept, so we just ordered something from the bakery in town." She said flying around the corner and perching herself on the back of a chair, Badgerclops was sitting at the table sawing away at a stack of pancakes.

"Morning sleepy-head." He taunted between moments of shoving food in his mouth, "Got your favorite." Mao Mao took his seat in front of his own stack, chocolate chip with whipped cream, as loathe as he was to admit that was in fact his favorite.

"Thanks..." He mumbled picking up his fork and knife, "Sorry for oversleeping."

"s'alright." Badgerclops said, "You looked peaceful so I didn't want to wake you." Mao Mao quietly thanked him for that, stealing a glance at him every so often as he started cutting up his breakfast. Was that just a dream? It felt real enough, he certainly remembered the nightmare, but was that enough to wake him up? "Something wrong with them Mao? I made sure to get dark chocolate-."

"N-no the pancakes are fine, I just had an odd dream..."

"Ooh about what?" Adorabat's enthusiasm over shadowed any concern Badgerclops was feeling and Mao Mao shrunk back in his chair.

"W-well uh... We were, fighting a monster! And it had the king's voice, and he kept saying things like 'Ooh yes I shall certainly have you executed for that!'" He mocked their kings voice and it resulted in a laugh from his friends, he did in fact have a dream like that before and it was bizarre enough to remember in case.

"That IS odd. Oh that reminds me." Badgerclops shot his arm off into the living room and after a few moments it came back holding two letters, "These came for you this morning." He set them on the table by Mao Mao pulling his arm back and returning to the stack of pancakes, which Mao Mao could have sworn got bigger.

"Oh, thank you." He set his utensils down for a moment and picked up the letter, one was from his father, odd. The other was... "No return address?" He used a claw to cut the seal off, which resembled a paw print and pulled out it's contents, a map, three tickets, and a letter.

_To the Lucky Mao Mao Mao,_

_Congratulations good sir! You have won an all expenses paid trip to the fabulous Lucky Cat Casinos and Resorts. You and two guests will be treated to a month long stay at our fabulous Gilded Wolf Resort for a full course festival of luxury and self indulgence. Just show the included tickets to the person at the front desk and we'll take care of the rest! You can begin your stay at any time within the next two weeks._  
  
Note: All gambling done will be with your own money.  
  
  
Congratulations,

_Lucky Cat Casinos and Resorts event staff._

"DUDE!" Badgerclops slammed his claws down on the table and leaned forward, "Lucky Cat Casinos and Resorts?! That place is the poshest of the posh! You cashed in all your luck for the rest of your life here!" 

"Th-that's all well and good Badgerclops but- I didn't sign up for any contest... Oh!" A thought struck him, "Remember before we came to Pure Heart valley? We saved that really ritzy looking guy from some bandits!"

"Oh yeah! Uh, didn't he say he'd repay us some day? He must have entered your name in this contest, still though repaying us with an entry in a lucky contest is a bit cheap-."

"Mao Mao Badgerclops, what's a casino?" Adorabat asked fluttering over to Mao Mao's chair to read the letter. 

"A casino is where stupid people go to waste all their money on a chance to make more money, it's a scheme and totally rigged." Mao Mao said ready to tear the letter up before Badgerclops took it from him.

"We should totally go! I've always wanted to see their fabled Golden Waterfall!" 

"Uh Badgerclops did you hear me? A month long stay? Who's gonna protect the valley?" 

"Can't we get one of your sisters to do it?" He asked and Mao Mao withered but Badgerclops didn't notice. Ask his totally heroic and totally successful to cover for him while he slacked off for a month? No thanks. 

"I'm not sure I'm-."

"Yeah we should go!" Adorabat said flying over to Badgerclops shoulder to scan the letter with him, "C'mon Mao Mao, it'll be like an adventure!" He did like adventure.

"B-but I'm the sheriff." 

"Yeah well I'm co sheriff which has 75% of your vote, and Adorabat is a deputy so she has 50% of your vote, that's 125% of your vote to 100% of your vote. Let's do it! Hero's can take breaks Mao."

Heroes can take breaks? The code never said that... But there was something about the excitement in their eyes that swayed him, "... Fine, what's the harm in it... I'll call my sisters and see if any of them can cover, if not... I... I can call my dad." He got out of his chair, abandoning his remaining two pancakes and headed out of the room before Badgerclops put a hand on his shoulder.

"You sure man? I know how you are about your family- and- if you really don't want to go... We don't have to." Badgerclops smiled at him and Mao Mao felt his face warm, thankfully he hadn't been turned around. No matter how much the thought of calling his family unnerved him, his friends smiling seemed to overpower it, just a tad. Plus something about this invitation felt fishy, and his heroic instinct would get them to the bottom of it.

"Yes... Yes I'm sure! Heroes can take breaks." The phrase put a knot in his stomach, but Ol' Blue said he should take more time to enjoy the domestic parts of his life, and a vacation was as domestic as it gets, "I'll go call my family right now!"

And of course in Mao Mao speak 'right now' meant, in two hours after he psyched himself up for it, "Ah I should probably read dad's letter before I call, in case he asks about it." Mao Mao pulled the letter out of his cape and opened it up.

_Dear Mao Mao,_

_Hey Mao Mao! It's your dad, I just got done saving the King of Everglow and have some downtime, so I was considering paying you and your friends another visit. Give me a call when you get this letter and let me know if I can come down._

_Your legendary father,_

_Shin Mao._

Humble as always, but his dad was free... Taking a few deep breaths Mao Mao dialed his homes number and held the phone up to his ear, it rang once, rang twice, and rang three times before someone answered, "Hello?" It was his mother! 

"Hello mama."

"Oh Mao Mao! Is this about that letter from your father- I told him to give you some space..."

"I-it's fine," It wasn't. "I was wondering though, if papa could, kingdom sit for me?"

"Kingdom, sit?" His mother asked and Mao Mao suddenly felt hot.

"Y-yes, my friends and I, want to go on a vacation, and I was wondering if papa, or any of my sisters could watch the valley for me for a while." He felt stupid just asking, of course they'd so no, they were actual heroes, unlike him who was about to go traipsing off to a resort for a month.

"I'd love to Me- er, Mao Mao." His mother's voice was suddenly replaced by his father's and he felt his heart stop for a moment, "You can go off and have fun with your friends, leave all the hard work to dad." His father, who almost called his son the wrong name, again.

"Th-thank you, papa. Can you come down... Today? We'd like to leave right away if at all possible, get it over with as fast as we can."

"Of course! I'll be right down!" And then Shin hung up and Mao Mao collapsed to his knees panting, a simple phone call drained so much from him.

"Call your family? Whoa you okay?" Badgerclops peaked his head around the corner coming over to the phone and Mao Mao nodded.

"Y-yeah just stumbled a bit, I may need to get my cape trimmed." He lied and stood up dusting himself off, "Anyways, my dad's coming down today."

"Today?!"

"Yes is there an issue?"

"Oh I dunno, packing?"

"Badgerclops you don't wear clothes, none of us do, we can probably take all we actually need in a day bag if we think practically." Mao Mao said and his partner sighed.

"That's just like you- but- I suppose your right. I'll call the skewl and tell them Adorabat's gonna be out for a few days."

"What about her parents?" He asked and the two just stared at each other, "Right." He said and cleared his throat, "Can you pack me a few spare capes and some gloves, I need to go down to town and tell Ol' Blue I'm going to be out of town for a month." And maybe get in a quick last minute session to sort out this weird feeling.

"Ah yeah, good idea." He sighed, "I'll fuel up the aerocycle- and he's gone." Badgerclops sighed picking up the receiver and dialing the number he now had memorized, "Somethings up with that cat."

* * *

Mao Mao made it down to town and into Blue's office in record time, the lobby was empty, as expected of, he stole a glance at the clock, nine in the morning. The office door opened and the familiar dog stepped out, "Oh Mao Mao, I don't have you down for today, this weeks appointment is on Saturday."

"Yeah about that- I'm going out of town today, and won't be back for a month... Badgerclops, Adorabat, and I are going on vacation." Blue cocked and eye brow at him, "W-what. Heroes can take breaks." Saying it again still didn't make it sit right with him.

"I don't have an appointment until one today, would you, like to talk about it?" He opened the door wider and offered for him to come in. Silently Mao Mao entered the office and shut the door behind him quickly laying down on the chaise. "So why the sudden vacation?" Blue asked as he took his own seat picking up his clipboard.

"Well- I... Won a contest... And like I said Heroes can take breaks."

"You sound like your trying to convince yourself of that." Blue was very receptive of how Mao Mao was actually feeling, which was to be expected of a trained therapist. 

"Y-yes... I rather stay here but Badgerclops and Adorabat want to go- and I'm the one who won the contest so- I figured- I'll just go along with it this time." Also. 

"That's unexpected."

"Yeah, talking with you, has, helped me get over things always going my way, and I'm sure spending some quiet time with Badgerclops will be fun." Also.

"Adorabat too, yes?"

"Hmm?"

"You said both their names earlier, this time you said just Badgerclops."

"Ah right- yes she's coming with us." Also...

Blue scribbled something down on his clipboard, "I see, well I shouldn't keep you too long, if there's anything else you can call me during your appointment times or around this time again if you need some last minute advice."

"Ah thank you... Though uh, there is one more thing... I, had a weird dream last night and it's bugging me." Blue simply nodded as Mao Mao sat up swinging his legs over the side of the chaise digging his claws into the faux-leather seat. "In this dream, I wake up from a nightmare, and like always go out into the living room to cool down, but, Badgerclops is there, and we sit on the couch, he looks talks and acts just like Badgerclops, then he does something, weird, and then... It get's fuzzy." So he fudged his dream a bit, who doesn't from time to time.

"Hmm. Well I'm not a dream analyst, but I can say that maybe you feel something about Badgerclops?"

"What- pssh, no can't be." He scoffed and stood up, "I gotta go, pack and stuff." He said and Blue nodded, "I'll, call you, if I need to."

"Mhmm, have fun Mao Mao." He said as Mao Mao headed out of the office. This vacation will be fun, and peaceful, he was sure of that.

* * *

"So that's the monster alarm, it goes off if a monster is in or around town. You know how to dispatch monsters so I'll leave it at that, and you're also at the kings beck and call, so if he calls for something stupid, indulge him, just a bit. If it get's to be too much just tell him off and he'll stop, for a while." Mao Mao explained to his father who was idly messing with a model of a monster Adorabat sculpted that Badgerclops kept on his workbench, it wasn't accurate but he liked it.

"Alright then, you kids have fun now at this, Kitty Cat play house or whatever it was. The valley is in good hands." Shin said and Mao Mao sighed hoping onto the aerocycle followed by Badgerclops and Adorabat, putting on their helmets.

"We will Papa." Mao Mao said revving up the engines.

"Thanks Mr. Mao!" Badgerclops said making sure he was on comfortably pressing himself against Mao Mao.

"See you in a month!" Adorabat exclaimed and they were off out of the hanger, with Mao Mao at the wheel and Badgerclops on navigation the three were in for a long trip.

While Mao Mao focused on driving Badgerclops and Adorabat slept, Badgerclops lightly clinging to Mao Mao with his belt strapped around them both, and Adorabat in Mao Mao's lap he kept a slow speed so they wouldn't fall just to be safe and the flight ended up taking a lot longer than Badgerclops predicted because of this, but Mao Mao could see they were at their destination, he stared in awe slowing down even more so they were barely moving but just enough to stay in flight. "Hey- hey guys wake up." He shook his friends who groaned at suddenly being awoken but Badgerclops brightened quickly unstrapping himself from Mao Mao and leaning out to get a better look.

"Lady and gentleman may I present, Lucky Cat Casinos!" He gestured broadly at the sight before them, a veritable sea of neon lights, the casinos were an entire island chain full of buildings that touched the skies, but most iconic was the bright sign on the center island, a giant neon lucky cat with a paw that batted up and down.

"Wow..." Adorabat perched atop Mao Mao's head, "It's so pretty!" 

"I've never seen anything like it before-. Badgerclops you seem used to it." Mao Mao said his eyes scanning for something that looked like Gilded Wolf, "Have you been here before?"

"Oh ah- no, I've just uh, seen pictures." That sounded suspicious to Mao Mao but he dismissed it, "Oh the map says... Over there," He pointed leaning back to take the handles from Mao Mao. He drove them down onto a roof top parking lot and drove into a spot and the three hopped off, Mao Mao and Badgerclops stretching. They abandoned their helmets and collected the two bags they brought, a duffel bag with Mao Mao's clothes, and a day bag with toiletries and Badgerclop's video games. They headed up to the parking booth and Badgerclops tapped on the glass the wolf inside turning to them.

"Wow he's so much bigger than the Sweetypies." Adorabat said and Mao Mao laughed.

"This is average for outside the valley, we're parking here, one Aerocycle, make 180976, camo green."

"15 jewel a night." The wolf said, he was watching something on a TV inside the booth.

"FIFTEEN!" Mao Mao barked and Badgerclops quickly pushed him out of the way, paying the guard a swiftly sticking the pass handed to him on the aerocycle with his robo arm, "That's highway robbery."

"Resort prices man, I'm sure our package has free parking, I'll move the cycle tomorrow." Mao Mao grunted as the three made their way down the parking garage stairs to the resort entrance, even for this late at night people were still bustling about. Coming to and fro, loudly chatting about their winnings, plans for the night, and the occasional, well more than occasional flirt. 

"Hey hot stuff, how about a night with me?" "Are you big all around?" Of course, more than a few directed at them, which Mao Mao ignored and Badgerclops just laughed at, the three made their way to to the front desk which was in an extravagant lobby, despite being a casino the lobby was rather quiet. Mao Mao took note of all the signs around, a pool, restaurants, ads for live shows, there was even a shop which probably had exorbitant prices. 

"Welcome to the Gilded Wolf Resort, how can I help you fine gentleman today?" The wolf at the reception asked, lots of wolves Mao Mao noted.

"We- won the contest?" Mao Mao asked showing him the tickets they got and the wolf lit up.

"Ah Mr. Mao! We've been expecting you, right this way sir." Without much hesitation the wolf swept out from behind the counter and lead the three down the hall to the elevators and called them down, "Congratulations on winning this stay, we welcome all forms of luck here. Though I would have never expected a black cat to win, you are notoriously unlucky." The elevator opened and they stepped inside, the wolf swiped a card on a reader and hit a button labeled '777'.

"Pssh, black cats are just a superstitious sign of bad luck, it's not even true." Something about this exchange felt, weird to Mao Mao, it reminded him of what dream Badgerclops had said. 

The wolf laughed a bit, "You'll be staying in our High Roller Suite. Complete with master bedroom, two lesser bedrooms, master bathroom, and a roof top hot-tub." 

"Hot-tub!" Badgerclops cheered as the doors opened, the wolf lead them out again and down another hall, there weren't any doors on the walls apart from the one the wolf opened and lead them into.

The room was HUGE! It was the size of their entire house, maybe even bigger. The first room was a living room complete with a wall sized TV a full stocked regular fridge (complimentary) huge ten sectioned couch with a mini fridge (also complimentary). "Your key cards are on coffee table, please relax, there are pamphlets in each room with a full list of our activities, the casinos are open from eight AM until four AM if you kind sirs have the urge to gamble, room service is on speed dial on each phone, if you need anything please do let us know. There are robes of all sizes in each closet if you'd like to relax, and the bathroom is through the door right there. Enjoy luxury." The wolf bowed and quickly left the room shutting the door behind him.

"This place is heaven!" Badgerclops said throwing himself onto the couch grabbing the TV guide and flipping through it, "They have every channel! And like thirty I didn't know existed!"

"So what do you want to do first?" Adorabat asked perching herself on a chair, to answer Mao Mao yawned.

"Sleep, I drove all the way here, it's 10 PM, I'm going to bed, we can have fun," Another yawn, "Tomorrow."

"Oh yeah, get some rest Mao, thanks for your hard work today, I'll drive on the way back alright?" He nodded padding over to the master bedroom door.

"Sounds good, good night you two."

"Night Mao Mao!" They chimed together and he entered the bedroom, it was just as lush. The carpet was soft under his paws as ditched his clothes, knee pads, and gloves. He set Geraldine carefully down next to the bed, and oh gods the bed. It was four times the size of his bunk, he leaped onto it and melted into the pillow softness of it with a satisfied moan. None of his suspicions had wavered yet, and the dream still tugged at the back of his thoughts but for now the bed was so soft, and the room was the perfect temperature, he couldn't help but set aside those thoughts for tomorrow, letting himself drift into the embrace of sleep.


	2. Den of Wolves

The grand double bed was maybe a bit too much for Mao Mao, he preferred the quaint tightness of his bed back home. He rolled over again pulling the covers a bit tighter, he wagered it was about three in the morning now he'd probably be able to go back to sleep if he settled down. He rolled onto his back and took a deep breath releasing it... Nope not going to happen, it was another bout with insomnia and despite how tired he felt his body wasn't having it. Then he felt the familiarity of the situation, "Is this another dream?" Though how he would go about deducing whether or not it was dream, "Well, maybe the fact that I'm questioning if this is a dream or not... If this is a dream, then, I want cobbler-." He asked only for his dessert related wish to not come true, "Not a dream, good." Which inversely meant that his nightmare was real, he thought he could recount the last one, not that he wanted to, but no details came to light meaning that it was something that bizarre dream coaxed up as a reason to get out of bed, this one, which he could recall so vividly that it made his heart beat faster, was definitely real. He sat up and hugged his knees to his chest digging in claws a bit to confirm that this was real, "G-good..." His voice started to shake as he affirmed himself, before he could think any further there was a knock at the door, "W-who is it?" He asked even though there was only one person it could be.

"Uh, me?" Badgerclops's voice came from the other side of the door, "Adorabat and I were gonna get breakfast, want to come with us or we get you something?" Breakfast? 

"What time is it-?" He asked and picked up the clock on the nightstand, the digital display read Eight. "Oh ah- sure, let me take a shower first." 

"Sure dude, I put the rest of your clothes in the dresser." His voice faded away and Mao Mao redirected his attention to the clock, if it was eight why was it so dark? Shouldn't the sun be shining in through the window. He vaguely knew where it was and hoped out of bed towards it, feeling his way around in the dark he found the curtains, he pulled them aside and winced at the sudden flood of light shutting his eyes.

"Wow these are some effective curtains-." He pulled them open and gradually opened his eyes blinking a few times, "That's better, no hero starts his morning in the dark." He stretched turning away from the window catching a reflection on the wall next to him, it was the closet. The doors were open wide displaying the robes the wolf had mentioned last night, on one door was a full-length mirror, Mao Mao took a moment to look himself over. His fur was sticking up in places, his whiskers weren't straight, and he had the look of someone who didn't sleep, "Oh yeah, definitely need a shower." Already gloveless and kneepad-less from sleeping all that was left was his cape, he left the room and looked at the living room while he headed to the bathroom, Adorabat and Badgerclops were on the couch watching some cartoon, he smiled a bit as Adorabat fluttered around in excitement and Badgerclops gave his usual chuckle at her antics.

He slipped into the bathroom shutting the door and turning the light on, it was just as grand as the rest of the room, the bathroom was probably about the size of their bedroom, with a large mirror with Jack and Jill sinks, Mao Mao notes that next to one was his and Badgerclops’s tooth brushes and tooth paste (they shared a brand after all) and on the other was Adorabat’s. Badgerclops probably set them out last night, how thoughtful of him. On the counter as well was Mao Mao’s soap, shampoo, and fur conditioner. He gathered his soaps and took off his cape letting it drop to the floor, he headed to the shower. He set his supplies on a ledge and turned the water on, expecting to recoil back from the cold he was pleasantly surprised to find it warm immediately, Badgerclops must have used it early. He let the water run over him letting out a pleased sigh, it was so much nicer than the shower back at home which sometimes just didn’t get lukewarm even if you turned it all the way up.

He preferred to take showers after practice, but he hadn’t practiced today, in fact Geraldine was still by the bed, come to think of it he didn’t practice yesterday, he woke up too late and was immediately distracted, and he woke up late again today too. “Well yesterday it was because of that dream.” Mao Mao stated trying to confirm that in his head, “And it was just a dream, nothing more, nothing less.” Even if he did find it weird that both Dream Badgerclops and the wolf yesterday referenced him being bad luck, only for both Badgerclops to deny that, he felt warm again, and it wasn’t the water. “Gah!” He shouted out in frustration only to quickly cover his mouth, that was probably a bit too loud.

“You okay dude?” There was a knock on the door, that was too loud.

“Y-yeah sorry just, uh, almost dropped my soap is all.” He called back and didn’t get a response he assumed he went back to the couch. He quietly assured himself it was just a dream once again and picked up his soap, his stomach was growling and he wanted breakfast as soon as he could get, “You’re fine Mao Mao.” He assured himself popping the top on the soap and getting to work.

* * *

Once Mao Mao was done and dressed again the three headed down to the lobby in search of breakfast, “You have the keycards right Badgerclops?” Mao Mao wasn’t exactly fond of the idea of going up to the receptionist on the first real day of their stay and telling them they were locked out.

“Chill I got them.” He opened a pocket on his sash and pulled them out before tucking them back in, “So I looked at the brochures to see what kind of food places this hotel has, and we struck the food JACKPOT!” Badgerclops laughed at his own bad joke, “Get this, they have an all you can eat Breakfast buffet!”

“All you can eat?!” Adorabat lit up at the prospect and Mao Mao sighed.

“Remember Badgerclops that’s ‘all a normal person can eat’ not however much you personally can eat, if it was that they’d be out of food within an hour.” Badgerclops shot him a look of mock offence and he smirked.

“Hurtful.” He muttered and pulled a pamphlet out of another pocket, “They also have more traditional restaurants and cafes if you want to order something, one place does custom pancakes.”

‘We had pancakes yesterday, keep it in mind for later though.” He peered up at the pamphlet to read the back, “I wouldn’t mind something with more protein though…”

“Hey, I’ve got an idea!” Adorabat chimed in, “What if, we go to every restaurant here during our stay! Our food is covered by the prize, right? Let’s try a bit of everything!”

“I like that idea! Before you argue Mao that’s 125% again.”

“… Make that 225% percent.” He said looking way, “That could be, fun.”

“Hah awesome! Let’s see… Ooh let’s try this place for breakfast today!” Without much warning Badgerclops picked up Mao Mao and held him up so he could see the pamphlet too.

“H-hey! Don’t just pick me up!” He kicked his legs trying to break free from his friends grip but to no avail.

“But omelets dude! Our staple breakfast!” Badgerclops extended a robotic finger to point at a restaurant listed, Mao Mao couldn’t read the name very well, but it was ‘Egg’ something, so he assumed it was a pun. But it was true, it was their staple, it was the only food that the two of them cooked together, they both had their own specialties, but omelets were something they did together. This thought made Mao Mao warm again and he soon grew too flustered to be held any longer.

“Sure, sounds good.” He kicked Badgerclops in the side, “Now put me down.” Badgerclops complied releasing his grip and letting him drop to the ground. Mao Mao turned his head away so they couldn’t see his face, unaware of whether he was blushing or not. The elevator dinged and the doors opened, they headed out and an elderly couple traded places with them.

“Not many people around, I thought this place was super popular.” Adorabat noted as Badgerclops took a moment to figure out where they needed to go.

“That’s because it’s a casino, most people stay out until they close and are probably still asleep or nursing a hangover.” Another reason Mao Mao wasn’t fond of the casinos themselves.

“Yeah probably, though some people do come for the spas they have at other hotels, you can pretty much go anywhere while your staying here, so some people book the cheapest room they can find and just relax even if it isn’t at the same hotel as the one, you’re staying at.” Badgerclops started to walk off in one direction and Mao Mao followed him.

“Sounds pretty convenient!”

“That’s how they get you Adorabat, offer all sort of luxuries included with your stay, and that’s how they get away with charging so much. Thankfully we’re here for free.” Mao Mao explained still running over the thought in his head, “Badgerclops do you know if they run this kind of contest regularly?”

“Pssh why would I know?” He was quick to dismiss it yet again, he was hiding something. However, the cat’s train of thought was quickly cut off by the growling of his stomach.

“How much farther- I haven’t eaten since breakfast yesterday.” Come to think of it unless Badgerclops and Adorabat ate last night none of them had. That was probably why Mao Mao was so on guard, he was just hungry.

“We’re already here, are you spacing out or something?” Adorabat asked and Mao Mao took note of their surroundings, they were in fact at a restaurant, ‘Eggcelent Timing’.

“Welcome!” The host, another wolf, chimed with a smile, “Just the three of you today?”

“Yup! Can we get a child seat?” Badgerclops asked and the wolf nodded collecting a handful of menus and leading the three into the restaurant.

“Oh, can we get a table by the window, I haven’t gotten the chance to take in the scenery yet.” Mao Mao requested, and the wolf nodded but didn’t change course, setting the three at a table in the corner by a big floor to ceiling window.

“Enjoy your meal. The waiter will be right with you.” The host said setting down their menus and heading back to the front of the restaurant. Mao Mao took the seat closest to the window, Badgerclops across from him and Adorabat perched herself on the child seat.

“They have a lot of wolves working here.” He commented and Badgerclops shrugged.

“Maybe it’s theming, this is the ‘Gilded Wolf’ after all.” Badgerclops was already looking through the menu, “Everything looks so good, it’s not that often we get to eat fancy foods.”

Mao Mao scoffed, “I don’t think we’ve had anything nicer than the jelly cakes we make.” While the Sweetypies were good bakers their culinary talents didn’t extend that far, and Badgerclops and Mao Mao we’re most accustomed to making quick meals due to their travelling. He redirected his gaze to the window taking in the outside.

The view gave Mao Mao a good idea of the layout, the window led out to the boardwalk they crossed last night. Mao Mao didn’t take note of anything on the boardwalk and his gaze went straight to the sea, sparkling in the early morning sun, it had been forever since he had seen the ocean. Even this early there were people setting up umbrellas and towels, probably wanting to enjoy the sea before there was a rush. The ocean view reminded him of a time when he was younger, his father had- “Mao!”

“Ah what!” Mao Mao snapped back to reality, the waiter was looking at him expectantly, “Oh uh… I’ll have uh…” He picked up his long-forgotten menu and scanned the options, “I’ll take the hydra egg-.” He knew they were dubiously legal at this point but, Tanya was right, they were oh so delicious.

“Excellent choice.” He nodded writing it down and headed off.

“Are you okay Mao Mao? You were really zoning out.”

“Oh, ah yeah, I was just, thinking about the last time we saw the ocean! When we fought that sea monster, right Badgerclops?”

“Oh yeah! That was fun.” Badgerclops rolled his eye, “That’s what made me start working on water proofing my arm, that thing chucked me into the ocean!”

“Hey, don’t complain, you served as the perfect distraction for me to come in and finish it off.”

“I’ve never seen the sea before!” Adora bat flew over to Mao Mao’s chair and looked out the window.

“That’s cuz you’ve lived in the valley your whole life, I’ve seen the ocean a bunch of times, so it isn’t anything special, what about you Mao?”

Mao Mao looked back out the window, “I’ve been a few times.” He left it at that returning his attention to his friends, “So- what are you guys thinking we do after this?”

“Ah, that’s a good question, I was only focused on breakfast, we could just wander around, or we could go back to the room and check the guide channel, see what’s going on today. Or we could just do nothing, it is a vacation after all.”

“Badgerclops you do nothing, all the time, though I may want to scout around a bit, see if there’s anywhere good I can get some training in.”

“Hah!” Badgerclops laughed, “That’s just like you, we’re at a tropical resort paradise, and all you think about is sword fighting. Come on Mao, just, relax for the month. Though taking a walk may not be so bad, get familiar with the place.” He leaned in closer to Mao Mao glancing at Adorabat who was distracted by the kid’s menu, “Tire Adorabat out and then we can go see the fun stuff.” He whispered.

“Fun stuff?” He whispered back and Badgerclops sat back in his seat with a coy grin.

“I’ll tell you later.” He opened his eye and shut it again.

“W-what was that?” Mao Mao asked and Badgerclops did it again, “Was that a wink? You can’t wink with an eyepatch- that doesn’t work.”

The rest of the meal came and went without any hassle, after paying the three headed back out of the restaurant, “Mm that was good.” Badgerclops sighed patting his stomach.

“I’ve never seen anyone, but you eat four omelets in one sitting.” Mao Mao silently found it impressive, but he didn’t want Badgerclops setting a precedent for Adorabat’s own eating habits, “Glad it’s not on my dollar.” He joked as they passed the host stand.

“I hope you and your family enjoy the rest of your stay.” The wolf bowed and Mao Mao’s ears twitched.

“O-oh no we-.” Badgerclops pushed Mao Mao along before he could correct him, “H-hey.”

“It’s not that big a deal dude, less of a deal than you blocking traffic and taking up their time. Ooh that place has croissants!” Badgerclops’s attention switched quickly as he headed down the hall as Adorabat hopped onto Mao Mao instead.

“Hey Mao Mao, you mentioned ‘scouting’ before what’s that?”

“Ah Adorabat, always thinking of heroics like I am, ‘scouting’ is what us heroes do when we stay in one spot for a while, we get a feel for the environment, so we know exactly what to do in times of crisis!”

“That’s just Mao speak for ‘I wanna look around the palace.’ He did it when we got to the valley too.” Badgerclops returned holding a large transparent bag of croissants, Mao Mao guessed there were at least three dozen in the bag just from looking at it, “Like I said earlier looking around isn’t a bad idea, get to see what’s around this place, we can check out the other hotels too since they’re all part of the overarching Lucky Cat resort.”

“That reminds me, I’ve been wondering, who OWNS this place? Are all the hotels individually run? Or are they all collectively run by someone or a group of people?” Mao Mao asked and Badgerclops crossed his arms.

“Um… I, don’t actually know…” Badgerclops said tapping his metallic arm with his claws, “Does it really matter though?”

“No, not particularly. A hero always strives to be well informed. Ah whatever, it’s a vacation, let’s go scouting.” Mao Mao affirmed, but in the back of his mind the suspicion was building, he’d have to figure out what lay behind this den of wolves.

* * *

The three spent the rest of the day looking around the Gilded Wolf resort, learning the locations of restaurants Badgerclops wanted to try, seeing what kind of shows they put on in the theater they had in the casino portion of the hotel, and ended with a sunset stroll on the boardwalk, Badgerclops grabbing snacks from practically every stand. Adorabat had fallen asleep and Mao Mao was holding her in his arms, “We should probably bring her back up to the room, and now that she’s asleep you can tell me what you were talking about earlier, with that ‘fun stuff’ nonsense.”

“Oh yeah!” Badgerclops shifted his food around trying to find what to take a bite of first, “You made you’re attitude on casinos clear yesterday but we should still see them, so once we get Adorabat to bed let’s go have some fun, just the two of us like old times.” Spending time just with Badgerclops sounded nice, they spent most of the past year with Adorabat by their side. Not that he didn’t care for the deputy’s presence, she was a big part of Mao Mao getting better, helping train her centered him a bit, but it was a rather stark change from working in a duo most of his life to working as a trio.

“That’s sounds nice, but we shouldn’t stay out too late, Heroes need to get enough sleep.” He extended his fist which Badgerclops bumped with his own, “Glad to be working with you again partner.” He smiled at Mao Mao and he felt himself warm again seeing Badgerclops illuminated by the sunset, “I’ll take Adorabat up to the room! I’ll get it done faster than you so let’s meet up in the lobby.” Mao Mao snatched a keycard out of Badgerclops’s pocket and bounded back.

“Alright? See you soon?”

Mao Mao rushed into the lobby past the desk and to the elevator hitting the up button and waiting, checking his face in the reflective doors, there was a noticeable tinge of red under his black fur, why was he blushing? “It’s that stupid dream again.” He complained shifting Adorabat in his arms, “I wish I could just hurry up and forget it.” The doors opened and he stepped in shifting Adorabat to one arm and swiped the keycard and hit the triple-seven button.

“Ah sorry could you hold the door?” Someone called and Mao Mao held his hand out in front of it to keeping from shutting, “Ah thank you.” They sighed stepping in, it was a black and white calico cat under a veritable mountain of luggage, “I pulled the short straw so I’m getting everyone’s luggage. Could you press the button for floor 58?” He asked and Mao Mao obliged.

“That’s certainly a lot.” Mao Mao commented as the cat straightened out the suitcases, there were seven in total each of a different color, “Do you need any help with that?”

“Ah no it’s fine, I’m uh, stronger than I looked.” He flexed a bit, “Plus you’ve got a lot to carry yourself.” He gestured at Adorabat, “Your kid?”

“Ah,” no, this child that I am holding while I look panicked isn’t my child, “yeah, family vacation.” He said calmly, trying to keep his composure stealing a glance at the floor count, six.

“Ah yeah I see, I’m here with some friends, my names Alec, Alec Meowzin.” He offered a hand to shake and Mao Mao took it.

“Mao Mao. Meowzin, the name is familiar…”

“Ah, you’ve probably heard of my family, A. Meowzin, my family is behind the-.”

“Your family makes robotic body parts!” Mao Mao suddenly chimed in, “My friend orders some of your stuff when he has to make repairs on his, I’ve seen the boxes before. Ah you had some cheesy slogan what was it…?”

Alec sighed, “A. Meowzin products, amazing quality, amazing prices.” He rolled up his sleeve showing that his hand was robotic, “I can certainly attest that your family products are quality.”

A family product huh, “I see…” Mao Mao said, this Alec reminded him a lot of, well, himself.

“Heh, what make is your friends’ part if I may ask, dad’s always on me about studying the competition after all.”

“Oh uh,” come to think of it he didn’t know, “I’m not sure I’ve never asked.”

“Ah that’s fine, welp my stops coming up, I’ll be staying here for a while, we may run into each again Mao.” The elevator stopped and Alec gathered up his suitcases and pulled them along with him, “Hope we can meet again.” He called as the doors shut.

“Wow- he’s like me.” Mao Mao kept his eyes on the door, “Another black cat huh…” Things were starting to come together in his head but Mao Mao still had no idea what any of it meant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay first of all thank you all so much for the support this has gotten so far, I wasn't expecting this dumb thing I'm writing to indulge myself to get this much attention. I'll be sure to keep this going, thanks for reading! Also don't expect chapters to be this frequent all the time but the first couple will certainly come out fairly close to each other.


	3. Sense Becomes a Weapon

Mao Mao tapped his foot impatiently watching the number on the LED display tick higher and the elevator moved, making sure Adorabat was settled in his arms so he didn’t drop her. He sighed leaning against the back wall still keeping his eye on the number catching his distorted reflection the polished metal, he wasn’t blushing anymore which was good, “Talking to Alec really calmed me down…” Mao Mao said glancing at the 58 button, “It is odd that my dream mentioned a black cat, and then Badgerclops said the same thing he did then… And now there’s another black cat in the mix…” Mao Mao was never one for ‘prophecies’ or ‘destiny’ mumbo jumbo, he only really believed in the magic he had seen and most fortune tellers he met had been frauds, “Maybe I should have told Blue some more about my dream, or maybe I should have talked to Camille and Honey.” He recalled the royal magicians, “No that would have been a disaster and a half.”

The elevator chimed and the door opened, and he stepped out heading back down the hall to their room, shifting Adorabat to one arm again he pulled out the key card again and opened the door shutting it behind him with a sigh. He could see the setting sun through the window on the other side of the room and briefly imagined him and Badgerclops watching the sunset on the balcony like they had done at home before, he shook his head dismissing the thought and headed to the other bedrooms, “Which one is Adorabat’s?” Mao Mao glanced in to one of the rooms, there was the bag at the foot of the bed, he assumed this one was Badgerclops’s room but for now it didn’t matter, he stepped in and approached the bed setting Adorabat gently down on the pillow, he knew she preferred to sleep hanging but she was asleep and couldn’t grip anything, she could fix that if she woke up. “Oh, I should probably leave her a note.” He crossed his arms, he hadn’t recalled seeing any paper around, but he knew hotels usually had a pad and pen, but did that carry over to a luxurious pent house room in a resort?

He stepped out into the living room once again and vaulted over the couch, just as he thought there was pad of paper on the table with a message scrawled on it, _‘Enjoy your stay- House Keeping’ _there was a smiley face drawn next to it, Mao Mao tore the page off and set it next to the pad and quickly wrote a note telling Adorabat where he and Badgerclops were if she woke up before they got back. “Oh right, I’m going to be alone with Badgerclops…” He groaned in frustration throwing his head back, “It doesn’t mean anything! You’re just tired Mao Mao!” He shouted kicking his feet against the couch, he took a deep breath and exhaled, “Maybe some practice swings with Geraldine will help me calm down-.”

Mao Mao had been acting weird all today and yesterday, “Though Mao’s always weird, just weirder than normal.” Badgerclops said to himself tapping his foot impatiently, it had been half an hour since he went to put Adorabat to bed. “Mao didn’t, blow me off did he…?” Badgerclops questioned hesitantly putting a claw on the elevator button, he was tempted to go up and check on Mao Mao, see if he had decided that spending the rest of the day in the room was better than hanging out with him. “No, no Mao wouldn’t do that, if anything Mao’s good at being honest,” Then he remembered the cobbler, “most of the time.” Not like Badgerclops who avoided every question Mao Mao had asked about what he knew about this place. “Pssh he doesn’t need to know that.” Badgerclops sighed and stepped back keeping his eye on the elevator, his unease growing with each minute it didn’t open.

However, all that was washed away when the doors parted and Mao Mao stepped out with a crowd of others, “There you are!” Badgerclops called and Mao Mao raised a hand and approached him, “Jeez could you take any longer?”

“Sorry, I just hadn’t gotten acquainted with the room yet, so I wanted to look around a bit.” Mao Mao apologized and Badgerclops bit the inside of his cheek, the room wasn’t _that_ big, Mao Mao was hiding something, but he chose not to press it, “So, shall we head over?” He headed over to the lobby and beckoned Badgerclops to follow.

“Uh looking like that?” Badgerclops questioned and Mao Mao cocked an eyebrow and looked himself over.

“What? What’s wrong with what I’m wearing-.”

“Oh nothing, if you like looking like a vaga- vagab…”

“Vagabond?”

“Looking like a vagabond! Thank you,” Badgerclops quickly tact on to his statement, “Have you not noticed what anyone else here is wearing?” Mao Mao glanced around.

“I guess most people are wearing more than us, but it’s not like there’s any fancy-dress code or anything.”

“No but there’s a social code, we can’t go in looking like a bunch of ruffians!”

“Badgerclops you have metal arm and an eyepatch- we look like ruffians no matter what we wear-.” Badgerclops grinned and opened a pocket on his belt.

“Not if we have these!” He pulled out a pair of tickets and handed one to Mao Mao.

“Redeemable for one personally chosen outfit at the on-site resort boutique?” Mao Mao read the ticket and looked up at Badgerclops.

“Yeah man! The concierge recognized me from yesterday and gave them to me, they’re a part of the contest, so what say you and I get dolled up?”

“A part of the contest? Are they this well off to run a contest like this? They’re making a lot of financial sacrifices by giving us everything but the gambling free…” Mao Mao narrowed his eyes at the ticket scrutinizing it. Badgerclops frowned, he could guess the answer to that question, but he once again decided against it.

“Ah you complain to much! C’mon!” Badgerclops picked up Mao Mao who instantly panicked trying to get out of his grasp.

“B-Badgerclops! Put me down!” Badgerclops didn’t answer and simply carried Mao Mao off to the boutique.

* * *

Mao Mao felt ridiculous as he looked himself over in the mirror, true to the ticket once they got there two wolves took the heroes aside and hand picked an outfit for them, Mao Mao couldn’t deny that they had some sense of style. He was wearing a polo the same shade of red as his cape and a pair of khaki shorts, he had been permitted to keep his gloves (after almost breaking the wolf’s finger when he tried to remove them), and his leg wraps. He felt weird without his cape, but the pants hid his tail well enough, he lifted his shirt and looked at his scars, it felt weird not having them covered by the tightly wrapped sash, but he certainly fit in with the other guests at the resort. “How do you like the clothes Mr. Mao?” The wolf asked and Mao Mao snapped back to reality.

“Oh uh, they’re… Nice.” He admitted, “Thank you for picking them out, if it was up to me, I’d have stayed in my armor… Speaking of which- where is it?” He asked looking around for his cape.

“We’ve sent them back up to your room, they will be there when you return, guaranteed.” Mao Mao simply nodded in response and adjusted his gloves.

“Hey Mao!” Badgerclops and Mao Mao turned around to see Badgerclops, dressed in a similar fashion, he was wearing a solid brown button up, the same shade as his belt, the long sleeves covered up his robo arm only leaving his hand in view, Mao Mao couldn’t tell what kind of pants he was wearing but they were a nice black. “How do I look?”

“You look nice, those clothes suit you.” Mao Mao silently thought he resembled a thief in a late-night movie he watched once, “We certainly look like we belong in ‘finer society’ now.”

Badgerclops gave his usual laugh, “Yeah we do. Thank you, my good sirs.” Badgerclops said the wolves bowed and headed off leaving the two in the dressing room, “Now c’mon Mao, let’s go show that casino how we gamble in Purheart!” With a cheer Badgerclops headed back to the exit and Mao Mao followed him.

“Badgerclops we don’t gamble in Pureheart, we’re like- two of the only 13 adults.”

“Yeah how does that town function?” Badgerclops asked and Mao Mao felt a sudden pang of guilt, he wondered how the valley was- though he’d only been gone for a day his father wasn’t as lenient with the Sweetiepies as Mao Mao was. He took a quick stock of people in his head, Blue could be trusted not to cause any problems, Farmer Bun and Penny and Benny as well. The royal guard weren’t exactly, helpful, but everyone at the castle mostly just listened to Snugglemange so they were fine. Chubbum, Gary, Kevin, and the other kids should be fine, they’d probably just fear Shin. Pinky and-, “Dude.”

“Ah what?!” Mao Mao snapped back to reality, Badgerclops was holding him back, he almost walked face first into a pillar.

“You okay? You looked like you were a million miles away.”

“Ah- I was just thinking- maybe I should call Papa, see how the valley’s doing- it’s my job to-.” Badgerclops turned Mao Mao around and put both hands on his shoulders.

“Dude, we’re on vacation. Your father is the greatest hero in the world, the valley is fine, at most Kevin will get lost in the marketplace, again. Just, look into my eyes.” Mao Mao complied meeting his gaze with Badgerclops’s, “You’re on vacation, just, forget about work for the month, and once we get back home you can redouble your efforts. Heroes can take breaks.”

“Heroes can take breaks…” Mao Mao repeated and sighed, “Yes, yes your right.” He lowered his gaze and Badgerclops pat his head, “Let’s go have some fun.” He offered a smile and his partner nodded.

“Luckily we don’t have to go far, just through those doors,” Badgerclops pointed to a set of golden double doors, “Is one of the best casinos in the world.”

“Ah speaking of which, we should set a limit for us, nothing is more heroic than financial responsibility. Our personal funds are all we can use, none of the sheriff’s department funds, and even then, we shouldn’t spend any more than 50 jewel-.”

“Yeah, I guess your right… We’ll need to fuel up the aerocycle, and if we need to buy anything else, we shouldn’t waste our money… Or.” Badgerclops said and Mao Mao sighed.

“No, no ‘or’, this is serious Badgerclops, casinos are rigged, we have to be on our guard, think of it like one of our stakeouts, we do just enough to blend in but nothing to put ourselves in danger.” Badgerclops let out a loud groan and crossed his arms.

“Fine Mr. Hero, you’re probably right anyway, you’re in charge of our money back home anyways, I’ll trust you on this. Now c’mon, let’s play.”

Badgerclops was always fond of card games, his game of choice for the night however was blackjack. The two traded some money for chips so they could play and found themselves a table however Mao Mao had passed on the first few games. “The bull wins another round.” The dealer said and Badgerclops groaned.

“How do I keep busting?” Badgerclops asked and Mao Mao chuckled was he watched the wolf shuffle the cards, “I’m not giving up!” Badgerclops said putting in his bet.

“Hah, I’ll stomp you as many times as you want!” The Bull said and Mao Mao shrugged grabbing a chair.

“Deal me in.” He said and tossed in his bet with the rest, “See Badgerclops when it comes to games like this sense becomes a weapon.”

“Sense? What are you talking about? It’s just luck Mao.”

The cat smirked, “Watch this.” He said as the cards were dealt between the five at the table, Mao Mao didn’t check his as the others did simply stretch his arms. First to go was Mao Mao himself, “Stand.” Mao Mao said and Badgerclops glanced at him, he was next.

“I’ll… Double.” Badgerclops said, he was confidant, he was given his card and checked it, “Ah damn it, bust.” He said and crossed his arms, making the next to go the quiet dog between Badgerclops and the bull.

“… Surrender.” He sighed meaning it was the bull’s turn.

“So…” Mao Mao trailed off giving his voice the same gravitas as when he taunted the sky pirates, “What’s it gonna be?” He asked and the bull narrowed his eyes at him.

“Who are you taunt me, you don’t even know what you have! Hit me!” The bull ordered and the dealer gave him his card, “D-dang it… Bust.” The dealer played their next card, a seven, in addition to the one he was showing, a six, and his face down, an eight, giving him twenty-two.

“The cat wins the hand.” Mao Mao laughed as the chips were passed his way and he flipped his cards over, a two and a three.

“You won with a five?!” Badgerclops asked and Mao Mao grinned.

“Like I said, sense becomes a weapon.” The dealer collected the cards again and started to shuffle as the bull huffed.

“That trick won’t work again, let’s make it interesting, just you and me cat, winner takes all.”

“Oh, a challenge is it?” Mao Mao relished a good challenge, he noted the bull had a notable stack of chips, at least 500 jewel worth at his guess, “You’re on.” Badgerclops was quick to pull Mao Mao back.

“Dude you’ve seen him, he’s been on a winning streak- and that bluffing trick won’t work twice.”

“I won’t have to bluff Badgerclops, I’ll beat him fair and square.” Mao Mao winked and sat back down pushing all his chips into the middle.

“Don’t rile him up.” Badgerclops whispered and Mao Mao scoffed.

“Sir would you mind?” The dealer asked passing the deck to the third-party dog who nodded and split the deck. After that Badgerclops and the dog stepped away from the table, so they weren’t interfering. The dealer once again dealt their cards and Mao Mao checked this time, a four and a queen, he needed seven to win unless the bull had an ace and a ten but judging by his expression he didn’t win immediately. The dealer had a three face up.

“Like I said earlier, sense is a weapon.” Mao Mao said narrowing his eyes. “Hit me.” He said and got his card, a four. “That’s it.” Mao Mao said leaned on the table, “Your turn, cow.” Mao Mao taunted, and the bull huffed.

“Hit me. Again…” The bull took his two cards and contemplated for a second, to win at blackjack you only need to beat the dealer, but Mao Mao figured the bull wouldn’t be satisfied unless he beat him as well. Mao Mao waited until the bull’s eyes drifted back up to his face which he played as smug as possible, and then licked his lips, “Again.” The bull demanded and was given his next card, “Damn it! 22!” He flipped his cards over in rage slumping back. The dealer flipped his face down card, a 10 giving him 13, then played his next card, a four giving him 17.

“Hahah! I win again!” Mao Mao flipped over his cards revealing his eighteen and gathered all the chips towards him, “You have an excellent poker face, but you need to not let simple taunts like that get to you.” Mao Mao said, and the bull growled and stormed off.

“Dude that was incredible! I thought because of how competitive you are you’d be an awful gambler, but it works out for you.” Badgerclops said collecting the ticket from the dealer signifying their winnings.

“Poker is a competition Badgerclops, a competition of deception, convince your enemies to give up by showing bravado in all circumstances. Rule number 1 of being a Hero is to show confidence at all times.” Mao Mao affirmed and Badgerclops pouted.

“I thought Rule 1 of being a Hero was-.” Mao Mao shushed him.

“It doesn’t matter what you thought it was because that’s the first rule. Emotional manipulation is one of a hero’s most important weapons.” Badgerclops glared at Mao Mao and he withered, “Except when it comes to Adorabat- she shouldn’t be taught to emotionally manipulate people.”

Badgerclops scoffed looking around, “Yeah I’m still mad at you about that whole episode with the sky pirates.” He had good reason to, “Jeez losing that much made me thirsty, I need a drink.”

“Oh right, you used to drink before we live in Pure Heart.” Mao Mao knew this was because there was no alcohol to be found in Pure Heart, unlike most other places, where some taverns would offer them drinks as a reward for taking care of a bar fight or chasing off some creep, “Didn’t think you still had the taste for it.”

“Pssh barely dude, I’ve had like, six drinks since I’ve known you? But we’re having fun tonight so might as well.”

“Guess I’ll just watch like always.” Another one of the Mao Family’s Hero Rules was no alcohol, Mao Mao didn’t mind this one as much as the cobbler one, he never had the desire to drink it, probably because it stung his nose. “Have anywhere in mind?”

“Nah, alcohol isn’t food dude- all I know is that they have bars, not where they are… Let’s go have a look, it’s probably a good place to get water- it’s hot in here.” Mao Mao thought was because they were more dressed than usual but the amount of lights and machines running contributed to the heat.

“I’ll leave it to you Badgerclops, don’t lead us astray.”

* * *

The two found themselves in one of the open bars in the middle of the casino, there were a couple big TV’s on the wall each showing a different sports game, “Tch, probably illegal betting going…” Mao Mao said and Badgerclops pat him on the head.

“Put the brakes on it, ‘sheriff’, it’s a casino people are gonna gamble on anything.” Badgerclops picked him up and set him on a stool.

“What can I get for you?” The bartender asked and Badgerclops crossed his arms.

“Give me a minute.” He said reading the list, it was full of fancy words and numbers that Mao Mao couldn’t recognize.

“And for you sir?”

“Just water- someone has to lug the big guy back to the room if he over does it.” Mao Mao joked and Badgerclops probably reacted, but he couldn’t tell because he was on his eyepatch side.

“I’ll just a beer, whatever you recommend.” Badgerclops said leaning on the counter, he had to stand like normal, he and stools didn’t get along due to his size. Mao Mao took his time to scan the bar- see what kind of people were around, he noted at the end of the bar was a familiar sight.

“Badgerclops just so you know there’s an angry bull at nine o’clock.” Mao Mao whispered and Badgerclops glanced at him.

“Uh I think _you_ should be more worried about him than me after you totally trounced him.” Badgerclops said and Mao Mao shrugged, “We really need to work on your habit of casually pissing people off.”

“Ah c’mon that’s never gotten us in trouble before.”

“Uh but it has Mao! Like, more than several times! We just talked about one earlier.” Badgerclops was already raising his voice and Mao Mao sunk, he hated having Badgerclops mad at him, and even over something so trivial.

“Hey!” A voice boomed and Mao Mao turned around leaned back once he saw the bull looming over him, “Yous the cat that beat me at black jack earlier-.” His words were slurred, and his breath was awful, he was drunk.

Mao Mao scoffed, “Lose one game of cards and you go drinking?”

“Dude, defuse!” Badgerclops barked and he sighed, the bull scoffed.

“What, need your _boyfriend_ to calm you down? What happened to that confident cat from earlier?” Anger flared up in Mao Mao but with Badgerclops already upset he held his tongue biting back the words he wanted to shout at him, “How bout we gamble with something more, your dumb face!” The bull threw a punch, but Mao Mao had predicted it would come to blows, he dropped off the stool kicking it out from under him keeping one hand on it and tossing it up causing the bull’s arms to get caught it in. Mao Mao leapt back and adopted a fighting stance.

“I may have no authority here but my honor as a hero and sheriff of Pure Heart valley it’s my duty to stop you if your going to cause a drunken disturbance.”

“Dude!” Badgerclops said again stepping forward to help him but Mao Mao held out an arm to stop him.

“Don’t worry, I’m just gonna tire him out a bit, then once he’s exhausted you bind his arms and we get security to handle him.” The bull freed his arm from the stool and charged towards Mao Mao, “I got this.” The bull threw another obvious slugger and Mao Mao dropped down leaping to the side out of the way, his first instinct was to kick at bull’s side but he was trying to diffuse so he simply slid towards the bar again. The bull turned and threw another punch.

“What are you a one trick pony?” Mao Mao asked grabbing another barstool and blocking the punch the same way as the first, “I thought the same trick wouldn’t work twice?” Mao Mao taunted, and the bull huffed this time quickly throwing the stool away faster than the first throwing another punch. Mao Mao jumped over the fist and used the bull’s massive arm as a vault and jumped to the other side. “I’m over here!”

The other patrons were getting excited, starting to chant “Fight! Fight! Fight!” The kind of fare Mao Mao expected of an establishment with less class than this, or maybe they were all like him and enjoyed a good fight.

“Fifty Jewel on the cat!” One of the watchers called, seems they were collecting bets, Mao Mao scanned the crowd, Badgerclops was at one edge with a worried look on his face, Mao Mao had to end this soon. The bull had finally found him and started to charge forward, head down, he intend to gore him. Mao Mao met this by running forward himself and grasping the bull’s horns and held him back digging his heels into the ground.

“Alright buddy, it’s time we ended this rodeo!” Mao Mao strained pushing back the pull as best as he could, “If anything, I’m strong for my size!” He roared and pushed him back causing him to rise a bit and delivered a kick straight to his lowered chest, knocking the bull onto his back.

“Let’s keep you from thrashing now.” Badgerclops joined in binding the bull’s arms above him with his robot arms. Mao Mao approached the bull, his eyes were open but blank, he had passed out.

“You can let him go, he’s out.” Mao Mao said, and a cheer erupted from the crowd, cheering for him. “Ah now let’s calm down everybody- there’s nothing exciting here- just someone wo had a bit too much to drink.” On one hand he lavished the attention being thrown at him but on the other he didn’t want _this_ kind of attention.

Through the crowd came a group of wolves with a stretcher who quickly gathered the bull onto it and pulled him off the scene, leaving a fifth behind, the concierge, “I’m terribly sorry about this Mr. Mao.” The wolf said in a rather calm tone for addressing someone who had just been in a bar fight, “We sometimes get clientele like this, we hope this does not lower your opinion of our humble establishment.” Mao Mao could feel Badgerclops’s eye on him.

“But I was part of the problem- I mostly instigated it.” Mao Mao said, “I should at least- pay a fine or something- for the damages?”

“But, what damage Mr. Mao? You handled that with the grace and poise expected of someone from _your _family.” This wolf knew his family? Of course, he did- their name was famous, and he looked like his father enough to be recognized, “The only thing broken was a single stool- which we have plenty of in the storehouses. Plus, as you said at the beginning, you simply did your duty as a hero. Now if you would excuse me, I must get back to work.”

“Ah- sure…” Mao Mao said, and the wolf was off leaving him there as the crowd dispersed, a few members a couple bucks richer. Badgerclops came up to him and sighed, “That was weird right-. How did I-?”

“I just, can’t with you right now. Let’s head back to the room, I’m tired.” Badgerclops said and headed off leaving Mao Mao to stare at his back. He was baffled as to how he hadn’t gotten in trouble for that, but Badgerclops being mad at him stung enough to be a suitable punishment for him.

* * *

The two spent the trip back to the room in silence and when they got inside Badgerclops started unbuttoning his shirt, “I’m going to take a shower.” He said and Mao Mao nodded, considering he hated bathing he had to be extremely mad at Mao Mao.

“Take your time, I’ll just-.” He called but Badgerclops was already in the bathroom, “Take one tomorrow.” He said quietly and sighed. He headed over to the bedroom checking on Adorabat, she was still sound asleep on the pillow, Mao Mao shut the door and headed back to the master bedroom and headed inside. Moonlight seeped inside from the window. He didn’t bother flicking the lights on as he took off his clothes tossing them aside haphazardly and flopped down on the bed. He messed something up today, but he couldn’t tell what made Badgerclops the maddest. He buried his face in a pillow and groaned, he just wanted to sleep off this weird feeling burning a hole in his chest…

Mao Mao didn’t know when he fell asleep but when he woke up there was something different, something large and warm was pressed against his back, Mao Mao backed off quickly flipping around in bed, the source of the heat was Badgerclops, “Badgerclops what are you doing? Did you stumble into the wrong room?” Mao Mao hissed at the slowly rising badger.

“What’s up Mao, have another nightmare?” He asked with a yawn and suddenly pulled Mao Mao back into his chest, “It’s alright, Badgey’s here…” He purred petting Mao Mao’s back.

“Your-! Your right, it’s alright.” Mao Mao said and buried his face in Badgerclops’s fur with a loving sigh.

“That’s my Mao. Just relax- I’m right here.”

“You are Badgey… You are right here…” Mao Mao murred into his friend as he laid back down taking Mao Mao with him and he let himself drift off into sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I put this out in the middle of the night because I figured I'd forget to upload it tomorrow lol-.
> 
> Thank you for all your support so far!


	4. This Cat Named Alec

Badgerclops sighed as he toweled himself off, “I probably was too harsh on him, he _was_ just doing his job. But he works way too hard sometimes and we’re on vacation.” He sighed again, tossing the towel away and looking at himself in the mirror and cleared his throat, “Uh hey Mao Mao, sorry for snapping at you earlier I just-… Oh hey Mao, yeah don’t worry about yesterday I was just. Mao Mao, my best friend, light of my life…” He crossed his arms with a huff, “Why do I feel like I should apologize? He’s the one who pissed that guy off,” Maybe it’s because Mao Mao was making an effort to relax and Badgerclops was just being his usual self, “Nah…” Badgerclops dismissed the thought with a wave and headed out of the bathroom, Mao Mao’s bedroom door was shut, meaning he was probably in there, he briefly considered checking in to see if he was still awake but he had spent a while in the shower and Mao Mao tended to fall asleep fast if he wasn’t trying to stay up so they’d just have to settle it in the morning.

“Badgerclops? What are you doing up- and why was I in your room?” Adorabat flew out of his open bedroom, so that’s where Mao Mao put her.

“You fell asleep while we were out, so we brought you back to the room.” Badgerclops said heading over to the couch and flopping down, she followed perching herself on the back of it.

“Where’s Mao Mao?”

“Asleep probably.” Badgerclops said picking up the remote and turning the TV on quickly turning the volume down, he didn’t bother changing the channel and settled for watching whatever previews the hotel channel was playing.

“Are you alright Badgerclops? You feel kinda, bummed out.” She was awfully receptive of other people’s feelings, probably because she was a kid.

“Nah, just tired, and kind of hungry.” He extended his arm out to the kitchen and rummaged around in the mass number of snacks he bought and had sent to the room, he pulled out a bag of chips and started to open it.

“Did you and Mao Mao have a fight?” Badgerclops dug his claws into the bag popping it in surprise, “I heard you get back, Mao Mao sounded sad too-.”

“Uh it’s way past your bedtime young lady.” Badgerclops sat up and faced Adorabat, she had a worried expression on her face, he remembers what happened last time he and Mao Mao fought, “… But, I guess?” He didn’t want her doing some rash because she didn’t understand the situation, “Mao Mao and I just had a small disagreement on something, no biggie.”

“Do you promise it’s no biggie?” Adorabat asked and he nodded, this seemed to brighten her mood considerably.

“C’mon, let’s watch some Kendo Ket.” She jumped off the back of the catch and fluttered around in excitement.

“Kendo Ket! Kendo Ket!” Badgerclops smiled changing the channel, so he told another lie, he’d have to tell the truth sometime this trip but for now this was fine.

* * *

When Mao Mao woke up again his bed was painfully cold, “So it was just a dream…” He sighed rolling over to look at where he thought Badgerclops had been he reached out as though he was still there, “Alright I get it brain…” He sat up and slung himself out of bed checking the clock, 5 AM, perfect. He got dressed in his usual attire, thankful to have a cape again and grabbed his sword hooking it at his waist. He drew open the currents again recalling the windows opened out onto the balcony and stepped outside, enjoying the warm morning air. There was plenty of space out there and it was mostly empty apart from some chairs and the hot tub, “It’s not our dojo but it’ll work out fine.” He said starting to stretch, “A hero should never slack on their training after all.” He drew his sword and set about his morning routine, he normally went through them with Adorabat, but he needed the time to clear his mind and explaining things wouldn’t help.

About halfway through his routine he was parched, with a sigh he sheathed his sword and headed back inside shutting his windows again. He headed out into the living room, seems he was the first one up, but that was commonplace. He headed to the fridge and looked through its content, “What the-. No bottled water? What kind of hotel fridge doesn’t have bottled water?” He checked the mini fridge as well, nothing, “You can afford to give us free clothes but not complimentary bottled water?” He recalled seeing a vending machine on the first floor, it was better than nothing, “Call it some extra cardio.” He said setting Geraldine by the door, there was nothing against having weapons in the resort, but he knew people would be unsettled by it, so he had to leave it for now.

He headed out to the elevator and headed down, not expecting the elevator to stop anywhere this early he was disproven, the elevator stopped at the 58th floor and the doors opened, “What are the chances!” He was greeted by a familiar sight, the same Calico cat from yesterday.

“That is quite the coincidence, Alec, right?” Mao Mao asked as the cat stepped inside, he nodded checking the buttons.

“That’s me! And your name is Mao, right?”

“Err, it’s actually Mao Mao, I only let a few people call me Mao.” The elevator started up again as Alec nodded.

“I see, I thought you had given your full name, but I’ll keep it in mind Mao Mao.” He rocked back on his heels, “So what has you up this early?”

“Oh, just getting some exercise in, a hero needs to keep their body in peak physical condition.”

“You must work out a lot then, I uh, saw that fight yesterday. You were pretty impressive.” Alec said and Mao Mao chuckled.

“Well, I was just doing my job is all.” He flexed a bit showing off for him.

“Oh yeah, you said you’re a hero, or was it a sheriff?”

“Both actually, I’m protector of the kingdom of Pureheart, though- I am on vacation right now.”

“I get it, I should be by my dad’s side, learning to run the company for when I have to take over, but my friends wanted me to come so here I am, thankful for the escape.”

“Pssh dads am I right?” Mao Mao scoffed, he guessed they’re the same in that way, a larger than life father that they needed to live up to.

“Tell me about it. ‘Oh, Alec you need to study 24/7, you need to be ready to lead the company Alec, you’re the only one who can do it Alec’. Can’t they understand that we’re happy where we are now?” He quickly turned his attention to his robotic hand, “Ah sorry about that-.”

Mao Mao shook his head, “It’s fine, I get it.” Not quite the same, but they were close. The elevator finally stopped and the two stepped out, “We got off topic, why are you out so early?”

“Ah all my friends totally crashed last night, so I was gonna get something to eat, oh want to join me?” Alec looked eager to share a meal with Mao Mao.

“Sure, why not.” He figured Badgerclops would still be mad at him and he wanted to avoid facing him again for just a while longer.

* * *

“So, this Pinky guy is just a total terror?” Alec asked sticking another strip of bacon in his mouth, the two had settled on a restaurant known as ‘Sunrise Window’. “They only serve breakfast, so it has to be good.” Alec had said, and they were already crowded.

“Oh yeah, getting stuck in pipes, floating away on balloons, covering himself in mayonnaise…” Mao Mao shuddered recalling the sight, “But he’s a citizen so it’s my job to keep him safe.”

“Sounds rough. Hopefully your family doesn’t mind you not eating everywhere with them.”

“Family?” He quickly remembered he told Alec they were on a _family _vacation, “Oh yeah, Badgerclops is just a big old lazybones anyway, he’d never get up early enough to come to this place. I should take Adorabat sometime though she’d like it here.”

“You seem like a good father Mao Mao, half of what you’ve talked about is her.”

“She’s my finest, and only, pupil. If you couldn’t guess she’s not my actual daughter, she lives with me and Badgerclops and we take care of her. Her parents were- not the best apparently.” Alec’s expression softened, “She was all alone when we got to Pureheart, didn’t even have a place to live, so once Badgerclops and I settled we took her in as a deputy and my apprentice.”

“Ah speaking of Badgerclops that was the friend you mentioned yesterday right.” He quickly changed the topic which Mao Mao was thankful for, “I’ve never seen any robotic arms that can extend THAT much, plus full grafted parts like that are rare, how did he lose his arm?”

“I don’t actually know. He had it when we met so he’s probably had it for a while.” Mao Mao shrugged stabbing a piece of his waffle, chocolate chip of course, with his fork and stared at it, “All this tech stuff is beyond me, I’m glad he can handle it all for me.”

“Sounds like you two make a good team. Wish I had a partner strong and dependable like you.” He leaned forward over the table but quickly shot back, “Not that I need one- my work is pretty much a one-man job.” Alec quickly back pedal shoving more food in his mouth to shut himself up.

“Looks like it, I’ve helped Badgerclops clean his arm but that’s about it. Does your hand do anything special?”

“Oh no, it’s pretty standard, our company doesn’t make combative stuff, it’s all standard, domestic prosthetics. I don’t really need much more than just a working hand, though I wouldn’t mind being able to replace my fingers with tools, that would be much easier than having to maintain a toolbox-.”

Now he was curious, “How… How did you lose your hand?”

“Workplace accident.” He said so casually that it was startling, “Got my hand caught in some moving parts when I was younger. Had to get it amputated, I still have a scar on my wrist from it.” He showed Mao Mao the underside of his wrist and sure enough cut through the black fur on his arm was a pale scar.

“You sound almost proud of it.” Mao Mao could understand that, he had a few scars that he was proud of for sure, but they were mostly signs that he had been carless.

“In a way I guess- like I said yesterday, I’m living proof of the quality of our works.” He paused, “You said Badgerclops orders parts from us yeah? I’d still really like to get a close look at his arm, custom made ones are always interesting to me, I wanna see what he’s done with it.”

“I may be able to get you a look, I’d have to bribe him with snacks though…” And here he was thinking about Badgerclops again, Mao Mao put an elbow on the table and rested his head on his palm, “As a man of science, or, mechanical engineering, what’s your thoughts about magic?”

“Magic? Well it’s quite helpful, it lets us achieve more of the impossible, the first robotic parts were based off old blueprints found in an ancient magic laboratory so I’m thankful for it. Why?”

“I should have been more specific, what’s your thoughts on magic like fortune telling or seeing the future.”

“Ah the more superstitious kind… Well it has been proven that some mages do poses genuine foresight but it’s rare, most cases have been prophets receiving divine will and prophecy through dreams.”

“Through dreams huh…” Mao Mao sighed, he didn’t have a magical bone in his body, “You’re quite knowledgeable in all fields it seems.” Alec gave a bashful smile rubbing the back of his head.

“I try to be as well-rounded as I can. The more I know the better things I can make and the more lives I can improve. That’s the core of my beliefs after all, helping people how I can.” Alec looked sadly at his now empty plate, “Though as brief as we’ve known each other I admire you Mao Mao, you’re a hero, you help people in a way that I can’t.” Mao Mao felt tears well in his eyes as he said that, “Ah are you okay?”

Mao Mao nodded quickly wiping them away, “Y-yeah, yeah. I just hadn’t been blinking enough is all. If you’re done eating, would you mind indulging me on a few questions I have.”

“Oh of course! I’ll do my best to answer them. Ah though maybe we should talk elsewhere, we’re hogging a table.” He raised a hand flagging down a waiter, “Check please!”

* * *

Mao Mao took Alec back up to his room, finding it the only place they could talk undisturbed, before he opened the door, he briefly considered what this would like if Badgerclops was up already, “Ahaha, just give me a minute to tidy up.”

“Oh sure-.” Alec started but Mao Mao already slipped into the room shutting the door behind him. Mao Mao headed into the center of the room and took a deep breath focusing his hearing, he quickly picked up Badgerclops’s snoring, he was still asleep that was good.

“Wait what am I freaking out about? Why should I care if Badgerclops sees me with another guy-?” Mao Mao quickly covered his mouth, “I phrased that wrong,” He corrected, “What do I care if Badgerclops sees me talking with someone.” He picked up the notepad that was still on the coffee table and quickly wrote down ‘Call Blue’ tearing the page off and stuffing it in his sash. Mao Mao went back to the door and opened it up, “Come in, please.”

“Thank you.” Alec stepped in a looked around, “Wow this place is deluxe- I’ve heard the High Roller suites were nice but not this nice…”

“Isn’t your family like, super rich? How come you aren’t staying in one of these?” Mao Mao asked, and Alec shrugged.

“It’s probably because I’m with friends, if I was with family, I’d probably stay somewhere like this-. How’d you get a room like this, being a hero pay well?” Alec took a seat on the couch and Mao Mao joined him putting pen to paper again.

“Actually, that’s what I wanted to ask about, I got this room because I won some contest.”

“Oh, that’s probably the Jackpot Sweepstakes. It’s a quarterly contest they run, entry in the contest lasts your entire lifetime so only once and your good, though there’s a substantial entry fee.” Mao Mao nodded and started to write down notes.

“I see, do you know, who owns this place?” Alec crossed his arms closing his eyes.

“If I remember correctly… Each resort is owned individually, the Gilded Wolf is owned by the Moon Wolf Guild, they’re-.”

“A merchant guild that operates out of Everglow, I’m familiar.” Mao Mao had done his fair share of contracted work for them when he was just starting out, merchants paid good money for guards for convoys or slaying monsters that occupied important routes, that explained all the wolves.

“Ah good that saves me from explaining, you know Lucky Cat is made up of an island chain, right?” Mao Mao nodded, “Good, the island next to this one is the Mourning Dove, it’s owned by an extremely wealthy widow, his wife was an avid gambler, so he opened his own hotel on the resort, it’s definitely one of the cheapest options for visiting, he wants everyone to enjoy his wife’s passions.” Alec reached into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone opening it and looking intently at the screen, “I can’t remember any of the other ones other than Lucky Cat itself, the center island is the titular resort, it’s mega deluxe, only real VIP’s get to stay there, royalty, famous politicians, the legendary Shin Mao has even stayed there.”

“Shin, Mao…” Mao Mao said quietly repeating the name of his father, “That’s why the wolf from yesterday knew my family…” If his dad had been here why did he pass it off when he told him, he quickly wrote down ‘call dad’ but quickly crossed it off.

“Mao Mao? You okay? You kind of spaced out-.”

“Oh yes I’m fine, I just, look up to Shin Mao a whole lot.” The look on Alec’s face said he didn’t need to say anymore, “Anything else you can say about this?”

“Hmm not much… Those are the only famous ones… Oh I do know one more! Corsair Raven.” The name sounded familiar to Mao Mao, but where had he heard it? “It’s the second and third biggest islands here but the resort itself isn’t that good, probably because it’s run directly by the same people who run Lucky Cat. That island is basically the town of this place, all the workers and their families live there, from what I’ve heard the workers have a pretty good standard of living, considering how many of them are. Though there are the slums, if you lose your job, or all your money gambling, that’s where you’d go to live until you can get back on your feet.”

“I see.” Mao Mao briefly considered a theory but shook it off, “Just one more, do you know what happens to people who get thrown out of here?”

“Ah, worried about the bull from last night? I saw him with some wolves later that night, so I assume he was probably checked out and sent home.” Alec shrugged, “I’m not sure on the law here, he may have been sent to town to cool off maybe.”

“That’s, slightly reassuring. Thank you for that Alec, a hero should always be well informed, you’ve filled in a lot of blank spots.” And added a few more questions.

“Glad I could help, I’ll head out now, I think something else needs your attention.” Alec cocked his head to the left and Mao Mao took a glance, Badgerclops was leaning against the wall, Mao Mao hadn’t heard him come out.

“Ah yeah, thank you again Alec.” Mao Mao bowed courteously, and Alec nodded.

“I’ll probably see you again, oh do you have a phone. I could give you my number-.”

“No, I don’t, never had a need for one.” Alec laughed quickly snatching the pad and pen from Mao Mao and flipped a page quickly writing something down.

“Well you’ve got a land line and can call me, or just in case you somehow get a phone take it anyway. See you later Mao Mao, thanks for paying for breakfast.” He gave a big smile and quickly excused himself from the room.

“Friend of yours?” Badgerclops asked and Mao Mao shrugged.

“I guess? We met yesterday and ran into each other earlier today, so we had breakfast together.” Badgerclops just nodded, there was already an awkward tension in the room. “Ah look about last night I-.” Mao Mao couldn’t think of anything to say.

“Look, don’t worry about it- it’s no biggie.” Badgerclops said and Mao Mao pushed his fingers together, it didn’t feel like no big deal, “If anything I-.” Badgerclops started but cut himself off.

Mao Mao looked around, desperately searching for a way to escape, “Oh! I told Blue I would call him once we were settled.”

“Sure dude, you said you got breakfast, are you still hungry or?” Mao Mao shook his head backing off towards his room.

“Nope, you and Adorabat can go without me, we can get lunch together though for sure.” Mao Mao gave him a thumbs up and Badgerclops smiled, with that Mao Mao quickly shut himself in his room. He wanted to scream. Did that settle things? Did that make them worse? He wrapped himself tightly in his cape and shuffled over to the phone glancing at the instructions and quickly dialed Blue’s number holding the receiver up to his ear.

After a bit of ringing it finally picked up, “Hello?” Blue’ voice came from the other side of the receiver and Mao Mao sitting down on his bed.

“H-hey Blue.”

“Mao Mao, I take it you need something?”

“Y-yeah, do you have the time to talk?”

“My first patient isn’t for an hour, what’s on your mind?”

“Well uh… Things are fine for the most part- except I did something to make Badgerclops mad and now things are, weird…” Mao Mao said quietly tugging on his cape, “I got into a fight with a drunk last night, I was mostly just keeping him from breaking anything, tiring him out you know? But that made Badgerclops mad, though he’d have been mad if I _had_ fought that guy… I, don’t know what to do.”

“Have you tried, talking with Badgerclops?” Blue asked and Mao Mao nodded, even though he couldn’t see it.

“Yes, actually. Once last night but he just went to take a shower, and just now before I called you, but neither of us could say anything. I… I used calling you as an excuse to leave.”

“Mao Mao…” Blue said, “You obviously want to make up with Badgerclops, but your still worked up over that dream you mentioned right?”

Mao Mao sighed, “About that… I had another dream, this time we were in bed.” He paused, “It wasn’t that kind of dream before you assume anything!”

“I wouldn’t assume-.”

“But we were in bed… Cuddling.” He admitted starting to feel hot again. Blue didn’t say anything, but Mao Mao could guess what he was going to say, “It was,” he hesitated, “nice.”

“I see, now you don’t have to say anything but, you and Badgerclops have fought before, and usually you blow right by it, but could this inability to communicate, and this dream mean that you’re perhaps, in love with Badgerclops?” Mao Mao couldn’t help but laugh, and laugh, and laugh, and laugh.

“Pfft, what me in love with Badgerclops? He’s so annoying I couldn’t be in love with someone like him and his stupid,” charming, “laugh, dumb,” hot, “face.”

“Mhmm.”

“Oh but, about my last dream actually… What Dream Badgerclops said… he said it in real life too. He mentioned black cats being bad luck, and not believing that superstition, then when we got here someone called black cats’ bad luck and Badgerclops said the same thing, and then yesterday I met another black cat, that’s weird right?”

“I wouldn’t know.” Blue said, “What did Badgerclops say in this previous dream?”

Mao Mao did his best to recall, “Um… He first asked if I had a nightmare, then he, hugged me, saying that it was alright since he was here.”

“Mhmm, common phrases and expressions. I can’t deny that first instance being, odd. But maybe your looking too much into it. What about this other black cat?”

“Oh, his name is Alec, he and I had breakfast today actually since we happened to run into each other after I went to get water after training.”

“And this cat, named Alec. How do you feel about him?”

“How do I feel? I like him, I guess. He’s a nice guy, pretty excitable, smart, he answered a few questions I had about the place.” Mao Mao chose to omit the part about his slip up from earlier, “Why?”

“Just curious, your voice brightened when you mentioned him, sort of in the same way it does when you talk about Badgerclops and Adorabat. You get along well with people who oblige to your nature.” Blue said, “Is that all?”

“… I guess, thanks for taking the time to talk with me. It helps me get my thoughts in order; I should go now- I left Geraldine by the door. And I’m _not_ in love with Badgerclops.”

“Sure, thing Mao Mao, I’ll be here during your previous appointment time tomorrow if you need to talk some more, enjoy your vacation.” Blue hung up for him and Mao Mao fell back letting the receiver drop from his hand. He ran his hands across his face with a groan.

“In love with Badgerclops huh?” He asked and scoffed, “Ridiculous.” Though Blue had always been right about picking out Mao Mao’s feelings he had to have been wrong this time, “Badgerclops is just my friend, co-hero, and deputy, that’s how it’s always been and how it’ll always be.” Mao Mao quickly jumped back up returning the receiver to the phone base and headed back out of his room, part to collect his sword and part to see if Badgerclops was still here.

“Oh, hey Mao Mao.” That he was, watching something on TV like usual, “Adorabat’s still asleep, she must have been really wiped yesterday.”

“Yeah she was sleeping like a log when I brought her back to the room.” Mao Mao said Badgerclops simply nodded, “Ah uh… About last night-.”

“I already said it’s fine, like, six minutes ago.”

Mao Mao cleared his throat trying to gain traction, “Y-yeah but… I still wanted to apologize, we are supposed to be on vacation, and I did, intentionally piss him off…” Badgerclops sighed and patted the spot on the couch next to him, Mao Mao pulled himself over the couch and joined him.

“Thank you for apologizing, but you _were_ just doing your job after all, I didn’t have the right to get mad at you. If you hadn’t stopped him, he’d probably have broken things and hurt some innocent people, so nice work, hero.” Badgerclops smiled at him and Mao Mao felt something well up inside him, riding the wave he hugged Badgerclops, “Oh!” The sudden exclamation caused Mao Mao to back off.

“W-what! I just- felt that that’s what you’d do in a situation like this-. Was it too much?” Mao Mao asked and Badgerclops answered by pulling him back into him.

“Nah dude, hug away.” He said and Mao Mao sighed as they embraced, things were fine just like this, totally normal and platonic hug between friends. Mao Mao buried those odd feelings deeper, assuming Blue was wrong this time, but it tugged at him, that maybe he _did_ feel something more towards his friend, but for now he was just fine like this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are starting to pick up now. 
> 
> Also wow can you believe it's been a month already? I wasn't expecting this to get as much attention as it has so I'm very thankful to all of you for your support. I hope you enjoy where things end up going.


	5. Why it's simple

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After like two month this chapter is finally finished! This one took me a long time to write for some reason, I'm also not entirely happy with it but after long review I don't think I could make it better. Thank you for your continued support.

Mao Mao and Badgerclops hugged for what felt like an eternity, Mao Mao finally pushed away clearing his throat, “Right, well, I’m gonna get back to training.”

“Ah sure. Do you want us to wait until you’re done? You tend to get hungry after practice-.” Mao Mao shook his head, he wanted to be alone right now, but he couldn’t just _say_ that.

“No no it’s fine, I had something without you and you guys can have something without me. If you could get up before ten, we could go where I went with Alec, but that may be impossible for a big old lazybones like you.” Badgerclops gasped and covered his mouth in mock offense.

“How daaaaaare you!” Badgerclops said as Mao Mao chuckled retrieving his sword by the door, “I don’t have to take that from you, you know.”

“Oh yeah? You’re good Badgerclops but you can’t beat me in a fight, you’ve tried, and you’ve never once won. If I remember correctly the record is…” Mao Mao trailed off as if he didn’t know that number off the top of his head, “50 to zero.”

Badgerclops scoffed, “C’mon man, you know I only spar with you because you beg- not like I’m motivated to try.”

“I do not beg!” Mao Mao insisted and Badgerclops rolled his eye.

“Uh yeah, you do. It’s like ‘Ohhh Badgerclops, please fight me you’re so tough and cool!’” Badgerclops made his voice higher to mock him

“I sound nothing like that!” Mao Mao shouted but quickly drew back, they were fighting again, Mao Mao was quickly let himself turn it into something more than banter, he averted his eyes and gripped his sword and headed to the window, “I’ll be on the balcony if you need me before you go.”

“Ah too much? Sorry-.” Badgerclops apologized, “I think we’re gonna go to this café, outside the hotel, didn’t see anything you’d like so I put it in the back of our list.” He had a list.

“Oh uh, thank you.” He had known Badgerclops a while, it was natural that he’d understand his tastes, but it made him feel nice that Badgerclops paid attention to something like that. The next gap of silence was awkward as Mao Mao stared at his friend trying to process this newfound information, “Well uh- I should be going.”

“Yeah- c’ya dude.” With that Mao Mao leapt out onto the balcony and shut the window behind him and slunk out of view of the window. When he did Badgerclops quickly turned around, “He HUGGED me?!” He exclaimed with a surprised groan, “Comforting him is my job, even if he doesn’t exactly like it-…” But he liked it and seeing Mao Mao’s half-smiles whenever he gave up struggling to escape warmed Badgerclops’s heart, it was one of the few times he’d ever seen Mao Mao smile genuinely. All his smiles were cocky smirks of pompous grins, he rarely ever gave a true ‘happy’ smile, Badgerclops always assumed it was because he had nothing to be happy about, so he deigned to give him something, unconditional affection. Something the cat sorely needed but denied any desire to have, Badgerclops sighed and leaned back on the couch, “What am I gonna do with him-.” Same thing he always did he assumed. He glanced at the window and caught Mao Mao leaping back sword in hand ready to stab at his invisible practice dummy and smiled.

* * *

Badgerclops flipped through his multitude of guides in the elevator as Adorabat watched from his shoulder, “Why isn’t Mao Mao coming with us?”

“Because,” he answered simply, “you know how Mao gets when it comes to practice, if he doesn’t finish properly, he’ll be cranky all day.” Badgerclops dismissed a rude quip he had about his ‘guest’ from earlier, “So he’ll get lunch with us instead, which means we can go to this place I read about, I’ve heard they use two kinds of illegal spices.” Adorabat nodded all though she wasn’t sure what made a spice illegal, “Again, you know how he is- he’d be all up in arms about not going and try to arrest the owners.” He smiled imaging the sight of his friend yelling about the laws.

“Did you and Mao Mao make up after that disagreement?” Adorabat asked and Badgerclops nodded.

“Sure did, so no need to worry.” He mostly said that to alleviate his own worries that continued to linger. The elevator doors opened, and he stepped out checking the map again, “Hmm let’s see I think it’s…”

“Badger?” A voice asked and he tensed up, the sound of someone running quickly followed and a husky leapt out in front of him, “Eh- you ain’t Badger…”

“Ha ha- close, it’s Badger_clops_, see the, eyepatch.” He pointed clearing his throat and the dog pouted.

“Sure enough, look an awful lot like him- Badger also didn’t have the metal arm… Sorry ‘bout that sir.” The dog shrugged and turned around and headed off. Badgerclops sighed and lowered his arms.

“Did you know him Badgerclops?” Adorabat asked flying in front of him.

“Nope! Never seen that man before in my life! Hey uh why don’t you go ‘scout ahead’!”

“Yeah!” Adorabat cheered and snatched the map from Badgerclops and flew off- once she was out of sight he sighed and crossed his arms.

“I knew I’d have to deal with this sooner or later, but I didn’t expect them to be on Gilded Wolf- hell I didn’t expect them to even still be _here_, thought we’d all get out together.” Though he was proof they didn’t, with a sigh he scratched his head, “Well, I can just hope Mao doesn’t run into one of them, that would save some explaining.” He figured he’d have to clean sometime before the trip was over, but for now the growling of his stomach cut off his train of thought, “Time for a snack, then breakfast.”

Once again being early for breakfast Adorabat and Badgerclops were sat quickly and served, Badgerclops ordering virtually half the menu, paling the amount of food his companions ate. They were sat a table in the back that had an extra chair which Badgerclops stared at sadly stirring his water with its straw. “I miss Mao Mao.” Adorabat said and Badgerclops nodded.

“We usually are always together- it feels weird not having him around.” Even weirder for Badgerclops who had known him for so long, “But we’ll see him again when we’re done.” Badgerclops shifted in his seat, it was rare for him to get impatient about food, but it was nagging at him that he wanted to see Mao Mao again soon, “I have a weird feeling-.” He said quietly glancing out to a different table, “Let’s hope I’m wrong though.”

“Your food sir.” The waiter, of course it was yet another wolf, said setting down plate after plate on the table and it suddenly hit Badgerclops how much he ordered once the table was quickly out of space. “Ah- I’ll just- leave the rest here?” He asked setting the carrier by the table still stacked with plates and searched for Adorabat’s order.

“Yes, thank you!” Badgerclops looked over his array of, mostly sweet, foods. The wolf bowed and headed off and the two set about eating, “Alright let’s see what illegal spices taste like~!”

* * *

“LUNAR LASH!” With a cry Mao Mao dropped from the air slicing down on nothing, “Whew- that should do it for today.” He said returning his katana to its scabbard, “Heh, I worked out for a lot longer than normal.” He wiped his forehead with his hand and flicked off some sweat, “Blech- I could use a shower.” He headed back into the room shutting the window behind him and undid his cape tossing it onto his bed. He set his katana down next to it and pulled off his gloves and stared at his paw for a moment pouting some, “I wonder how big my paws are compared to Badgerclops…” He wondered aloud continuing to strip down, he once idly compared his gloved hands to Badgerclops’s claws but never his bare paw, his probably dwarfed Mao Mao like the rest of him did. Mao Mao undid his sash and out fell the scrap of paper, he grabbed it and looked at it, in neat almost printed writing was Alec’s phone number, above it was a messy scrawled out phrase but Mao Mao knew what it said ‘call dad’. He glanced at the phone next to the bed and sighed, “Later.” He said taking off the rest of his clothes and heading out of his room into the bathroom.

He got in and looked at himself in the mirror again, he looked at his scars, something he remembered being proud of once but Badgerclops called the reasons he got them stupid. “Signs of carelessness huh…” He crossed his arms scrutinizing the rest of his appearance, “Oh yeah, definitely need a shower.” He headed over to the shower but stole a glance at the tub, it had been forever since he had a proper bath, mostly going for showers, they were quick and gave him more time for working or training. “Eh, what the heck, I’m already doing a bunch of things I would never have done back home.” He said and headed to the bath and turning on the water, waiting for it to get to a proper temperature before plugging the drain and letting it fill.

After a bit Mao Mao glanced at the tub and noticed it was filling up quicker than he realized, he turned off the water and got in slowly easing himself into the water, “Ohhh Yeah… that hits the spot…” He sighed and leaned back against the back of the tub, which happened to have been sloped so he could recline with ease. Content in the heat he let out another sigh, “Relaxing in a tub huh- guess I can add that to the list of ‘un-heroic’ things I’ve done. Heck I’m sleeping in, I ate a hydra egg omelet, I hugged Badgerclops-.” The last thing on his list made him pause, that’s right he _had _ hugged Badgerclops. He then recalled his last dream, but Badgerclops had hugged _him_ rather than it being the other way around, “Besides it’s just a dream… But maybe I hugged him because I had just talked about the dream with Blue…” He nodded assuring himself that that was the case, though he could help about wonder about the strange nature of the dreams, they felt too real compared to his other dreams. “Alright let’s try an experiment,” He said, to no one, “That nightmare before the first dream… What happened… A hero’s memory is sharp, even of his dreams so let’s just, recall it.” He shut his eyes and thought back to three days ago, the nightmare that knocked him into this bizarre strand of dreams, “I was… In the valley, I defeated a monster… And I looked around and-.” He cut himself off opening his eyes, “Badgerclops was dead-.” He sighed and unclenched his fist he didn’t realize he had gripped, “But that was just a dream, for sure, the king’s wig was blue after all… Hmm maybe the nightmare was too much and my mind subconsciously wanted me to feel better- but…” Why was it so realistic, why was it like that? Why had Badgerclops said what he had is his dream? Mao Mao groaned slouching back in the tub sliding down so his nose was above the water. Mao Mao didn’t contemplate anymore after that, just letting the hot bath soothe his weariness.

“Dude you shouldn’t sleep here it’s dangerous-.”Mao Mao was suddenly, yet gently, jostled around and his eyes snapped open and he scrambled to sit up instinctively searching for his sword, “Good morning Mao-.” It was Badgerclops, Mao Mao blinked a few times.

“Morning?” He didn’t recall falling asleep, in the tub, “H-Hey why are you in here I’m bathing!” Mao Mao shouted covering himself and Badgerclops rolled his eye turning around, so he wasn’t looking.

“Nothing I haven’t seen before; we came back from breakfast and you weren’t answering, so I got worried.”

“Err… Thanks.” Mao Mao stood up slowly, he wasn’t wobbly so he must not have been asleep for that long, “Can you get my towel and get out?”

Badgerclops shrugged and extended his arm getting the towel and handing it to Mao Mao who just finished unstopping the drain and took the towel, “… why aren’t you leaving?”

“I dunno, I’m just chilling I guess, thought we could spend some time together.”

“Uh can’t we spend that time together when I’m _not_ naked?” Mao Mao asked and Badgerclops shrugged, with a sigh Mao Mao started to dry himself off, “… How was breakfast?”

“Good.” Badgerclops said and there was a pause, there was never a pause when it came to food with Badgerclops, “It was so good- we had more of a brunch than a breakfast, they had these sandwiches that six kinds of cheese on them _six_!” Mao Mao privately thought that was an insane amount of cheese for one sandwich but smiled at his friend. Friend, thinking about Badgerclops as his friend felt, weird, somehow, like he didn’t want to call him his friend, he certainly still liked him but- “Dude you alright?” His train of thought was cut off, “You’re being like- way quieter than normal, I was expecting at least a quip about the sandwich.”

“It’s an exorbitant amount of cheese Badgerclops, too much for one person to eat.” The badger laughed leaning back on the tub and arced his head back to attempt looking at Mao Mao.

“They also had this really good cobbler; we brought some back for you.”

“Cobbler?” Mao Mao perked up at the mention of it and shrunk back some, “Well, you didn’t have to, I wouldn’t want to go that wild about it, you know how I get.”

“Pssh yeah dude, but don’t worry, it’ll be alright, I’m here.” Mao Mao’s ears twitched.

“Could you repeat that?”

“It’ll be alright, I’m here?” Badgerclops asked and Mao Mao felt something well up inside him.

“Yes- you are, and you shouldn’t, go distract Adorabat while I go back to my room and get dressed. Now, hurry.”

“Yeesh- what’s got you so angry all of a sudden, but sure thing dude.” Badgerclops shrugged again standing up and heading out of the bathroom, when he did Mao Mao let out a heavy breath sitting on the edge of the tub.

“That’s not, exactly, what he said right? That’s just a weird coincidence- twice is nothing… Nothing but a weird coincidence…” He said it again to affirm it and got out of the tub shaking off some excess water, he headed over to the counter and set his paws on the counter looking at himself intently in the mirror, “If it happens again…. _IF_ it happens again, I should call Camille and Honey, but it won’t, so there’s no need to worry. And I also need to call father, something tells me that the rest of today isn’t going to be relaxing in the slightest…”

* * *

The trio had collected themselves once again and headed down to the lobby once again, “Whaddya wanna do? Whaddya wanna do?!” Adorabat fluttered around the two of them excitedly as they poured over pamphlets.

“Well I wanna see the golden waterfall, but that’s on the main island, we should do that last.”

“Sounds good to me… Oh look they have ‘weapons of the world’ exhibit!” Mao Mao pointed to the ad and Badgerclops pointed to the text.

“Open on Friday and Saturday nights, we’ll go another time. Hmmm, Adorabat see anything you want to do?” She swooped down between them to get a good look at the pamphlet.

“Ooh ooh ooh! Aquarium! I wanna see a shark monster!” Adorabat aggressively waved at the page and Badgerclops took a closer look.

“Hmm, seems like it’s on Mourning Dove, let’s get the aerocycle.”

“Speaking off, _my_ aerocycle, did you ever re-park it or…?” Badgerclops nodded in response.

“Yeah they have private parking for people like us- it’s free too. C’mon I’ll show you.”

Badgerclops brought them back out onto the main strip where they had come in on the first night, it was still just as crowded now but there was much less flirtation directed at them. Badgerclops lead them past the spot where they had originally parked and into a separate lot, sure enough among the glitzy limos and expensive hovercars was their meager bike, “Sure stands out huh?” Mao Mao asked hoping on and putting on his helmet, his companions did the same. Twisting one of the handles it roared to life with the familiar sound, he backed up some and dashed it forward taking off into the air.

“Mourning Dove is over there.” Badgerclops pointed to the large building visible in the distance, “We’ll have to pay for parking outside of the hotel but everything else should still be covered by the contest.” Mao Mao nodded and set them off towards the hotel in a very quick trip. Mao Mao found another parking spot and set them down.

“Aquarium Aquarium Aquarium!” Adorabat cheered tossing her helmet aside and flying off, Badgerclops caught her and her helmet pulling her back handing the helmet to Mao Mao and he set it on the bike.

“Slow your roll there kid, we’ll be there soon.” Badgerclops held her back as she fluttered excitedly, they headed to the clerk and paid for their parking, much to Mao Mao’s chagrin at the pricing, and set on their way. “Let’s see… The aquarium should be… Over this way-.”

The aquarium was easy enough to find, thanks to the large sign of a dolphin that could be seen from pretty much anywhere. They headed inside and up to the ticket counter, “Welcome to Dove Light aquarium, observe sea life in their natural environment with our underwater observation area.” The clerk was a sparrow, not exactly a dove but Mao Mao caught on fast enough, “Just the three of you?”

“Ah yes we’re-.”

“Oh, you’re the contest winner Mr. Mao, word’s spread already.” The sparrow reached under the counter and handed them three wrist bands, “Put those on and you’ll be good to go, just remember you still have to pay at the gift shop. Enjoy your visit.” She waved towards the entry turnstile and the three headed off.

“It’s almost scary how efficient these people are…” Mao Mao whispered strapping the wristband on as Badgerclops did the same and affixed Adorabat’s to her leg, once it was on, she was off like a light.

“SHARKS!!!” She cheered and Badgerclops sighed and took off after her.

“I’ll go after her- you can catch up later!” He called out, “Adorabat wait!” And Mao Mao was alone. He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“Those two, honestly.” He said and looked around, “Eh, might as well enjoy the place.” He grabbed a map from a stand and unfolded it and made his way through the aquarium.

Mao Mao wandered around by himself for a good while looking at tanks with multi-colored fish swimming around seemingly aimlessly, he felt a lot like the fish right now, this wasn’t his kind of thing and was hoping to follow Badgerclops around. He shook the thought away and checked the map, if they were gonna see a shark anywhere it was at this underwater observation tank. An observation Mao Mao was quick to learn was that the island was _artificial, _man-made and totally ecofriendly, an impressive feat of magic and science. He made his way down to the lowest part, a multi-level fully glass room, he looked around and spotted them at the very bottom of the area. Mao Mao watched them quietly, Badgerclops was pointing at fish as they swam by and his mouth moved, probably telling Adorabat what each fish was. “Ah I recognize that look, I’ve worn it many a time myself.” A soft voice said, and Mao Mao jumped a bit turning to see an older man, a hawk with a gentle look in his eye, “Sorry for startling you lad.” He said and Mao Mao shrugged.

“It’s nothing, what ‘look’ did I have exactly?” The hawk laughed and turned his gaze on his friends.

“Those two yours?” Mao Mao didn’t answer, “Hmm I can see it, good with kids, boisterous, a real catch that one.”

“Catch?” The hawk laughed a bit and turned to face Mao Mao.

“It’s rude for a gentlemen to not introduce himself, Morin Alview, owner of the Mourning Dove.” The hawk extended a hand, well, wing for him to shake along with a business card which Mao Mao took idly tucking it into his sash.

“O-owner? Oh yes, Mao Mao, hero-.” Mao Mao returned the handshake and nodded.

“Shin’s boy?” Mao Mao narrowed his gaze, “Ah sensitive topic is it? Well I won’t press, good meeting you Mr. Mao, take good care of him.”

“Sorry if this is rude but- what exactly are you talking about?” Mao Mao barked some, the hawk’s eccentric nature was quickly getting on his nerves. The hawk laughed again and turned around.

“Why it’s simple, I’m talking about love my dear boy.”


	6. You never know what to say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit on the shorter end today but things are starting to get going now. Thank you for all your support.

“Why it’s simple, I’m talking about love my dear boy.” Morin turned his head back and smiled at Mao Mao, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I really must be going, I have a meeting in a few minutes and I just had to see the fish she loved so much before I went, goodbye Mr. Mao, enjoy your stay.”

“Er- thanks.” Mao Mao was so overwhelmed with the breezy presence of the man, gone as fast as he showed up that he didn’t even react to his statement and just stared at him as he left, turning his gaze back down to where his friends were, eyes transfixed on the sea before them, “First Blue and now this weird guy, tch what do _they _know? I know my own emotions better than anyone and I’m not in love with Badgerclops.” He affirmed, loudly, to no one. He sighed and kept watching his friends from afar when Badgerclops turned his head slightly and perked up slightly, waving, he must have seen him. Mao Mao waved back and hurried down to join them, up close Adorabat was staring so hard at the glass she could burn a hole in it.

“Hey dude, see you found us.” Badgerclops said turning back to the glass stepping to the side so Mao Mao could stand between them.

“Oh uh- yeah. See any sharks yet?” Badgerclops shook his head.

“There’s probably too many people in these waters to warrant them coming by, we’ve seen some cool stuff though- what’d you do while we were here?” Badgerclops pointed at a passing fish, “Another butterfly fish.”

Mao Mao shrugged following where Badgerclops pointed, “Just walked around- I didn’t pay much attention, this kind of place isn’t my thing.”

“And we appreciate you coming with us. It feels like you’ve changed Mao.”

“Changed? How?”

“Dunno, you feel more relaxed is all,” Badgerclops said pointing out another fish, “Sturgeon.”

“You’re certainly well informed about fish.” Mao Mao noted, “It’s not just cuz you can eat them is it-.” Badgerclops laughed a bit and then didn’t answer and proceeded to name more fish.

The three stood there like that for a while just watching the sea go about in its life, it was peaceful. Mao Mao found himself leaning against Badgerclops idly as they watched, until the peace was disturbed by a sudden shout, “SHARK!” Adorabat yelled flying closer to the glass to watch as a fin emerged from the dark, a bunch of other kids came rushing after that crowding around the glass, Badgerclops stepped back and pulled Mao Mao out of the way.

“I’d make a joke about your height but that would be mean-.” Badgerclops said and Mao Mao glared at him punching him in the side lightly.

“Thanks. What time is it?” Badgerclops shrugged shuffling through tools on his arm until a pocket watch came out, it read 3:47.

“Too early for dinner, how about Linner?” Badgerclops asked with a laugh and Mao Mao rolled his eyes.

“I could eat, let’s wait until Adorabat’s settled down and find somewhere to eat, any place in mind?” With that question Badgerclops lit up a grin spreading across his face.

“I’m glad you asked, I have just the place in mind!”

“Going straight from an aquarium to seafood feels- hypocritical…” Mao Mao said reading the sign of the restaurant Badgerclops brought them too, “Will Adorabat even eat seafood now-?” He whispered.

“Eh it’s fine, looking at all those fish made me want fish.” Badgerclops said and put a hand on his chest, “I did check, and our contest does cover food on other islands, so _someone_ can eat all they want.” Badgerclops said punching Mao Mao in the arm lightly, he was unaware if that was a jab at Mao Mao or himself.

“You two done whispering or are we gonna stay out here all day?! I’m, HUNGRY!” Adorabat yelled and flew to the door and Badgerclops laughed following her and pushing it open for her, Mao Mao followed in after them. They headed up to the host who Mao Mao noted was a bird.

“Guess that is a theme then…” Each islands employees were all of one kind of animal, Gilded Wolf had wolves, and Mourning Dove has birds, “Then… I guess we’d be seeing cats on Golden cat…” Then a thought struck him, “Did papa, work here? No, he’s always been a hero, he became ‘The Great Shin Mao’ at a young age, then why do so many people-.”

“MAO MAO!” The sudden shout snapped him out of his own thoughts, Badgerclops was looking over his shoulder, “You comin’?”

“Y-yeah, of course. Just got distracted is all.” He said and caught up to the host and took their seat, Badgerclops, of course, went straight for the menu and started to flip through it.

“You’ve been mumbling to yourself a lot, something wrong? Ooh halibut-.” Badgerclops asked and Mao Mao shook his head.

“No… No, it’s nothing, just thinking about the kingdom, you know how it is.” Mao Mao said and Badgerclops shrugged, Mao Mao shut his menu with sigh. “You know Badgerclops, you’re my co-sheriff, you should probably put some more thought into protecting the valley.” Badgerclops absentmindedly nodded pointing out more menu options to himself.

“I care about protecting the valley!” Adorabat chimed in and Mao Mao smiled softly at her, patting her head and directing his gaze once again at Badgerclops across the table, recalling the hawk’s words. _Love_, the notion of it was ridiculous to Mao Mao, he was a hero, heroes didn’t need to think about love… Though that was probably untrue, his dad was a hero and he had a wife, a wife. Was Badgerclops even interested in men? In all the time they had known each other Badgerclops never looked at anyone romantically, or at least he had never told Mao Mao about it.

“Badgerclops-.” Mao Mao shut his mouth abruptly and bit his cheek, his thoughts had gotten the best of him, he was seriously just about to ask if Badgerclops liked men.

“Yeah?” Badgerclops looked up from the menu finally closing it.

“Oh uh… I was wondering if you were gonna order salmon- I was planning to myself so if you wanted some, I could just give you some of mine.” He said and Badgerclops smiled and Mao Mao felt his chest tighten.

“Thanks dude!” Mao Mao nodded and sighed inwardly. He set his elbow on the table and leaned on his hand as he waited for the waiter to show up and free him from this mess. As he was thinking about it, was Badgerclops even aware that Mao Mao himself was gay? He had never mentioned it but Badgerclops was smart, he could have picked up on it.

“Sorry for the wait, are you three ready to order?” A seagull stepped up to the table and Mao Mao nodded picking up his menu.

“I’ll have the smoked salmon, no tartar sauce.” He handed the menu to the waiter.

“Fish sticks!” Adorabat cheered and Badgerclops followed with his five minute long order.

“Alrighty, I’ll get that, right out.” The gull looked a bit flustered as they headed off back to the kitchen.

“Badgerclops you ordered half the ocean, save some for the rest of us yeah?” Mao Mao smirked and Badgerclops scoffed and rolled his eye.

“Whatever man-.”

* * *

Food came and went and the three were soon back on their way to the Gilded Wolf, it was around three in the afternoon, far off from any of the night life attractions to open, Badgerclops pulled out their guide pamphlets and flipped through them. “Hmm, I mostly have food places marked- you guys wanna do anything?”

“If it’s fine with you guys, I wanna go back to the room- I’m feeling kinda sluggish for some reason.” Adorabat said and Mao Mao nodded.

“Of course, alright helmets on.” He said hoping into place on the Aerocycle and waited until he felt Badgerclops’s familiar presence behind him and kicked on the engine, with the ever familiar roar he took off.

The three were soon back in the hotel navigating crowds on their way to the elevator, Badgerclops and Adorabat managed to slip in but Mao Mao was left behind. “Tch, guess I gotta wait-.” He said and leaned against the opposite wall crossing his arms, at least it gave him time to think quietly.

“Mao Mao!” Or not, a familiar voice called out and Mao Mao turned to see Alec along with a dog and a horse, “Twice in one day, what a coincidence.” The calico smiled and Mao Mao smiled back, the first thing he noticed was a salty scent and lack of a shirt, “We just got finished swimming in the ocean! Totally different from pools or lakes.”

“I take it this is your friend?” The dog asked crossing their arms and Alec perked up.

“Oh right introductions, Mao Mao, these are my friends Sylva Wolster.” He gestured to the dog, she was in a one piece swimsuit that resembled a dress, “And this is Hen Briggs.” He gestured to the horse, also in a swimsuit, “Hen, Sylva this is Mao Mao!”

“Sylva Wolster, my dad is head butler to the Meowzin family, Alec and I go way back.” The dog offered a hand to shake and he took it.

“Hen Briggs, no relation to the Meowzin family other than going to school with Alec here, he’s talked a lot about you, for how little he knows you.” The horse tact on, intentionally a bit too loud.

“Mao Mao, it’s nice to meet friends of Alec.” He said and the elevator opened, and a crowd of people stepped out, without warning Alec grabbed his wrist and pulled him into the elevator with him and his friends.

“Going up I take it?” Mao Mao nodded and tapped his keycard against the scanner and hit the button. They stood in silence for a while until Sylva cleared her throat, “Alec wasn’t there something you wanted to ask him?”

Sylva pushed Alec forward who was suddenly flustered, “O-oh right, Mao Mao my friends and I were going to a show on Highlight Racehorse, one of the other resort islands, but two of us dropped out wanting to gamble some more. Do you and your friend Badgerclops want to join us?”

“Ah sure, we didn’t have any plans tonight anyway. I’ll see if he wants to join us but either way I’ll go.” With his acceptance Alec brightened up.

“Great! Just meet us in the lobby at 7:30!” He beamed and the elevator stopped, “Ah this is our floor, see you tonight Mao Mao!”

“Yeah see you.” Mao Mao waved as they headed out and waited until the doors shut and the elevator started moving again to groan, “Why did I agree to that! I’m already having trouble dealing with Badgerclops now I have to deal with _this_ too?!” Though Mao Mao was still unaware of what _this_ was, he put his forehead against the wall and sighed, “I need some sword practice, or a nap, or both.” He said and grumbled the rest of the elevator trip.

He made it back to his room and found Badgerclops sitting on the couch with Adorabat asleep on top of him, “Yo, sorry for losing you.” He said and Mao Mao shrugged.

“It’s fine, I ran into Alec again, he has some extra tickets to a show he and his friends were seeing, he wanted to know if we wanted to join them.”

“Sure, sounds fun.” Badgerclops’s expression was unreadable but his tone sounded, off, to Mao Mao, “When is it?”

“He said to meet them at 7:30, I’m gonna take a nap until then- I’m exhausted all of a sudden-.”

“Another nap? What was the bath nap not enough for you?” Badgerclops taunted as Mao Mao headed to his room.

“Shush, wake me up around six if I’m not already up.” He said not waiting for an answer and shut the door. He ditched his cape and threw himself onto the bed without bothering to shut the curtains, he stared at the phone on the nightstand. Call dad? Don’t call dad? Call Blue? “No.” He said firmly, “I have to figure this feeling out myself, no people telling me how I’m feeling.” He said and sat up, “Alright Mao Mao, you’re a Mao, you can handle this…” He took a deep breath and tried to recall Blue’s teachings, “Let’s say this is, love. Do I want that?” He asked and contemplated it, taking everything, he knew about relationships and applying it to him and Badgerclops. Hand-holding, they already did that sometimes, if the space was tight or if it was dark and they needed to be stealthy. Hugging, again, they already did that sometimes, Mao Mao had hugged Badgerclops this morning, ‘nothing wrong with friends hugging’ Blue had told him. Kissing… Mao Mao groaned and laid back down, he didn’t want to think about kissing Badgerclops after that first dream, “That makes it a no, kissing is a staple of being in love and I don’t want that so no I am not in love.” He affirmed, “I am not in love,” he said again trying to ignore what others had said. “How do _they_ know how _I _feel?” He asked and grabbed a handful of blankets and wrapped himself in them, he’d sleep away this feeling like he had slept away many others.

* * *

Mao Mao awoke with a start sitting up scrambling from under the blankets, panting heavily, he put a hand on his chest and grabbed a handful of his fur, he was awake, good. “Just… Just a dream.” He said and sighed, he glanced over to the other side of the bed finding it empty, good. He put his face in his hands with a sigh, “Just a dream…” How many times had he said those exact words lately? He’d been having more and more dreams as of late, all so similar, and it was getting tiresome. Waking up from his best friend dying, only to be almost kissed by said best friend and waking up again, waking up to his best friend sleeping in the same bed, and now waking up alone after being stabbed through the heart, by yet again the same best friend. He glanced at the clock, it was only 4, it had been an hour. He laid back down, “Alright mind, you obviously want to tell me something… Just lay it on me!” He shut his eyes and steadied his breathing trying to fall asleep again.

He laid there for what felt like so long, but it just didn’t happen. He sighed and rolled out of bed and headed over to the curtains drawing them open and stepping out into the night. He leaned on the railing and let the tropical night wind ruffle his fur, “Hey Mao.” Badgerclops leaning on the railing next to him, “Sleep well?”

“Yeah, for the most part.” Badgerclops hooked a claw under Mao Mao’s chin and angled his head upward leaning down and kissing him on the lips. He put his arm around him and lifted him up now holding him as he kissed him. They broke the kiss and were silent for a moment, “You never know what to say do you~?” He asked and Mao Mao sighed.

“I guess I don’t, it’s so hard when you take my breath away.” He purred nuzzling against him, “Wish we could stay like this forever…”

“Me too, but you gotta wake up Mao.”

“Eh?”

“Dude wake up.” Mao Mao suddenly felt himself getting shaken and his eyes snapped open, he was till in bed, “It’s 5:45, a bit early cuz I panicked and forgot when I was supposed to wake you up.”

“That’s fine…” Mao Mao yawned and rubbed his eyes, “Gives me time to straighten out of my fur.” He said and stretched getting out of bed.

“That bed looks so soft dude, sleep well?” Badgerclops asked and Mao Mao paused.

“For the most part…” He said and Badgerclops nodded, “right well, get out of her. I’m gonna get dressed, you do the same.”

“Alright, since you’re doing it yourself this time, I guess I don’t have to warn you _not_ to hurt someone.” Badgerclops joked heading out of the room and Mao Mao stared at his reflection in the mirror taking in his appearance in the setting sun’s light. No confused, as to when his dreams began, and when they ended.


	7. May the Best Man Win

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoo man It's been a long while. A lot has happened since the last chapter, both personally and world wise. I got a job for one so my time to write has gotten super limited but I promise this isn't dead yet! Also as we know new episodes are coming soon! Make sure to support the official release as well as fan works!

Mao Mao sorted out his appearance in the mirror, straightening his whiskers with his fingers and patting down his fur where it was standing up. He looked himself over in the mirror, “Hmm will I look alright?” He retrieved the polo from before and held it over himself, Mao Mao still preferred his hero gear, but it did make him look more relaxed. “I wonder if I could bring Geraldine with me… Man why did I agree to this? I don’t even know what this show  _ is _ .” Thinking back on it, why did he agree to it? Did he want to see Alec more? Did he want to spend more time with Badgerclops without Adorabat around? Or did he not want to stew alone in his bedroom dreading another strange dream, “Yeah, that’s probably it… Though this one already came true- I think…” Mao Mao groaned and hit his head against the cabinet and groaned again, this time in pain. He pulled back and rubbed his forehead, “Might as well, get dressed.” He grumbled, taking off his cape and putting the polo on. He picked his cape back up and looked at it for a moment and put it back on, it clashed with the shirt and the pants but he liked it so he kept it on, he grabbed Geraldine and hooked it behind him, obscured by the cape just in case, a hero had to be prepared after all.

He made sure everything was in order and headed out of his room, Badgerclops was once again lazing on the couch he was dressed, he must have been when he came to wake up Mao Mao. “Almost impressive how lazy you can be, we’re going in like half an hour and you’re still lazing around.

“Uh, we’re on  _ vacation _ . I can lay around if I want to.” Badgerclops said and Mao Mao scoffed before he was suddenly grabbed and lifted over and onto the couch.

“Hey!” Mao Mao punched Badgerclops on the arm with a huff, “What have I said about picking me up suddenly?”

“Not to do it but chillax I put you right back down. The cape with this is, an inspired choice.” Badgerclops commented and Mao Mao gripped his cape, “Not saying it’s bad, it’s a very you look, you looked weird without it last time.”

“I am most comfortable when I’m wearing it, and we’re gonna be having fun so I figured-.” Mao Mao trailed off and his eyes darted to the clock in the corner of the TV screen, it was now 6:20, did he really take that long to get dressed? Or was he spacing out after Badgerclops woke him up because of the dream, “Hey uh Badgerclops, do you ever have, weird, frequent dreams?” Badgerclops made a sound that Mao Mao guessed was him thinking.

“Nah, not really. Granted I don’t dream much in the first place, why, have another weird one?” Badgerclops smiled a bit as he leaned back against the couch, Mao Mao instinctively mimicked the motion, he hadn’t actually sat on the couch yet but it was awfully comfortable he could see why Badgerclops spent all his time in the room on it.

“No, nothing too out of the ordinary.” He looked at Badgerclops silently expecting him to suddenly kiss him like his dream had or say something similar yet again, trying to find the pattern in this nonsense.

“What exactly is your ordinary Mao? Training? Becoming legendary? Being loved by everyone?” Mao Mao laughed a bit because he wasn’t wrong and didn’t say anything. “But you have been having a lot of dreams huh. You always get restless if you’re dreaming.”

“Huh? How do you know that?” 

“We’ve been living together for so long dude, of course I’ve picked up on your weird quirks, like for example you always do two spins in the air if you’re doing a downward slash but you do three spins if it’s a fake out.” He noticed all that? “When you sleep you’re usually super calm but if you’re like, kicking your feet you’re usually having a dream.”

“Wait why were you watching me sleep-?” Mao Mao asked and Badgerclops crossed his arms.

“I don’t think I’ve ever told you, have I?” Mao Mao shook his head, “I have insomnia, part of being a criminal it’s hard for me to sleep, I always had to sleep with one eye open and as someone with one eye that’s super hard. So nowadays it’s super hard for me to sleep in general, so I’ll draw, or play games, or do whatever, when we were roughing it most of that involved watching you sleep seeing if that would make me tired.”

“... I never knew-.” Mao Mao quietly said and Badgerclops laughed.”

“Uh, yeah, that’s cuz I never told you. Besides, I’m sure there’s things you haven’t told me about yourself, you know, apart from the list of things you actually hadn’t told me.” 

“Of course, a hero needs to be mysterious after all, says so in the code.” Mao Mao asserted and Badgerclops rolled his eye.

“You know with how you and your family are, and having seen the code it’s hard to tell whether or not you’re making something up.” Badgerclops said and Mao Mao glanced at the time yet again.

“Alright let’s go, a hero is  _ at least  _ half-an-hour early to any and all events he attends.”

“Okay I know for sure you’re making that one up.

* * *

Mao Mao and Badgerclops headed down to the lobby and waited the hour out for Alec and his friends to arrive. “Ah, Mao Mao!” The cat called out and ran up to him and his companion waiting in the lobby, he wasn’t anymore dressed up than usual but certainly more dressed than their last encounter. “Hope we didn’t keep you waiting,” Alec said and his gaze shifted to Badgerclops, “Ah you must be Badgerclops, nice to formally meet you, I’m Alec, Alec Meowzin.” He offered his prosthetic to shake which Badgerclops shook with his own.

“Of A. Meowzin Prosthetics, I’ve heard of you.” Badgerclops said, an unmistakable edge in his tone, “Nice hand.”

“Nice arm, certainly well cared for.” Alec said not taking his eyes off it as though trying to disassemble it in his head. “Mao Mao you remember Sylva and Hen.” Alec said as he two friends approached.

“Yeah, it was just a few hours ago.” Mao Mao said and the dog and horse nodded at him, “I didn’t think to ask earlier, you have transportation right? We have an Aerocycle but it’s a two seater, and Adorabat’s small enough for us to carry her.”

“Oh yeah don’t worry about us, we’ve got more than enough space. Sides you can ride with us, saves money on fuel.” Sylva said and Mao Mao nodded.

“Ah an Aerocycle?! I’ve always wanted to ride one, dad says they’re too dangerous, all we have is air limos and such.” Alec seemed rather excited at the prospect of riding an Aerocycle, Mao Mao himself understood the feeling as he felt the same when he started to learn.

“We have a spare helmet-.” Mao Mao started and looked at Badgerclops who was looking at his own arm with a vacant expression only to suddenly perk up.

“Did you say limo- as in- like, mini-fridges and snacks?” He asked, his tone suddenly changing from harsh to excited, “Mao, we have to take the limo.”

“Limo’s aren’t exactly exciting once you’ve been in them so many times-.” Alec shrugged, “But we are more than happy to give you a ride.” 

“Yeah, not like even with our full group we’d be devoid in space.” Sylva said and dug around in her pockets pulling out a set of keys, “C’mon we have a VIP parking space.

Badgerclops kept his eye on Mao Mao as they followed Alec and his friends, he hadn’t seen his partner so eager in a while, his eye drifted lower and saw the familiar black of his swords sheath hidden by his cape, Badgerclops got up next to Mao Mao as they walked, “Hey Mao, think it’s a little much?” He asked quietly and tapped the sword.

“My instincts are acting up, better safe than sorry right.” He said and Badgerclops frowned.

“I’d rather you be wrong, but there’s no arguing with you sometimes.” It wasn’t as though the two of them couldn’t fight without their weapons, he just thought Mao Mao prefered his sword above all else. He considered chewing him out for not relaxing but Badgerclops wouldn’t be able to relax at this show either, “So uh Alec, what is this show we’re seeing exactly?” 

“Oh yeah I forgot to tell you earlier didn’t I. Well, it’s less of a show and more of a party, the main part of it is a couple of orchestras and bands are gonna play so it’s basically a big concert, but at its core it feels more like a formal party.”

“A Meowzin can’t get away from work even on vacation,” Hen said, “He was invited to the event as a special guest.”

“I know something about not being able to escape work.” Badgerclops muttered glancing at Mao Mao who either didn’t notice or acted like he didn’t. But then again, it looked like Mao Mao wasn’t listening to anything being said, he was scowling and his eyes were darting back and forth, Badgerclops recognized the behavior. He did it when they were on the road, keeping an eye out for any potential attackers. “Hey Mao.” He said and no reaction, “Hmmm… Mao Mao Mao!” 

“Gah! Don’t say my full name suddenly! What is it-?” Mao Mao snapped back to reality and turned his eyes on Badgerclops.

“Sorry, Alec this involves you to.” Badgerclops said and the calico turned around and started to walk backwards, ”We have a spare helmet, why don’t you take Alec on the Aerocycle and follow us while we take the limo?” 

“What really?!” That certainly excited Alec, “That would be really cool! Can we Mao Mao?”

“Oh uh, sure, I prefer driving myself anyways, I only really trust Badgerclops to drive sometimes anyways. So yeah, c’mon we’re in a different lot.”

“Awesome! Hen, Sylva, I’ll see you later!” Alec said and followed Mao Mao off in a different direction. Sylva crossed her arms and sighed.

“Is Mao Mao a good driver?” Sylva asked and Badgerclops shrugged.

“That’s a different answer depending on who you ask and that goes for everyone. Now c’mon, I wanna have limo snacks.”

* * *

The ride over to Highlight Racehorse went by in a blur for Badgerclops who was enamored with sampling every snack in the minifridge, to which he was successful. “Whoa this place is huge-.” Badgerclops commented looking out the window at the island. It looked more like a city than a resort, with buildings that almost reached their height, stadiums with lights shining all around, “A lot brighter than I remembered…” He muttered and sat back in his seat.

“Gonna be seeing a lot of horses here…” Hen said, “Their theming is impressive but it get’s tiring. Mao Mao may wanna steer clear of Lucky Cat, he may get mistaken for someone who works there.” Hen scoffed, “You called him Mao Mao Mao earlier, as in, the Mao?”

Badgerclops sighed and laid back, “Not my business to talk about. Ask him yourself.”

“I guess we’d get the same answer out of Alec huh… Speaking of, your arm.” Sylva pointed at it; they were in the business Badgerclops expected this.

“Custom built, I do order parts from Meowzin sometimes but it’s mostly my own make.”

“Surprised Alec didn’t try to actually examine it, but then again, he’s probably more interested in examining your friend.” Hen laughed and Badgerclops returned it with a fake laugh, though that wasn’t his business either. The window at the front of the limo rolled down suddenly.

“Ms. Wolster, Mr. Briggs, and Mr. Badgerclops, we’ll be landing shortly please make sure you’re buckled for the landing.” The driver said and the window rolled back up.

“Wonder how Alec’s enjoying his flight.” Sylva said and Badgerclops rolled his eye.

“Mao Mao’s probably doing some fancy flying tricks to show off, he may be a bit later than we’re expecting of them.” Badgerclops could see it in his head, Mao Mao’s usual style of driving turned up to the extreme, he pitied Alec in that moment. 

The limo landed shortly after and the three of them stepped out and Badgerclops stretched turning his attention to the sky awaiting Mao Mao’s inevitable descent. And so enough the aerocycle swooped down from the sky, slowing to a stop next to the limo. Mao Mao hopped off and put away his helmet followed by Alec who set the spare on the wing of the bike. “That was, AWESOME!” Alec shouted and pumped his arms in excitement. “Though not as extreme as I was expecting, you’re a pretty careful driver Mao Mao.” 

“Only when it comes to anything casual- you should see the stunts he pulls when we’re fighting.” Badgerclops commented expecting a retort from Mao Mao, who didn’t say anything. He still had the same weird expression on his face, eyes darting back and forth, “Uh, Mao?”

“Oh! Uh, sorry I wasn’t paying attention- what did you say?” He asked and Badgerclops sighed and looked away.

“Nothing let’s go.” This prompted Alec to laugh awkwardly.

“Y-yeah c’mon it’ll be fun.” The calico said and headed off towards a hotel in the distance closely followed by Hen and Mao Mao.

“Uh, it’s not my place to pry but are things, okay?” Sylva asked getting closer to Badgerclops so she could whisper. He crossed his arms and looked at Mao Mao, whose hand had drifted closer to his sword.

“Honestly, I’m not sure.

* * *

They arrived at the hotel after a brief walk, the namesake hotel Highlight Racehorse, as expected any and all staff Mao Mao could see were horses. Alec flagged down a staff member and showed them a bundle of tickets and they pointed off down a hallway, “Looks like it’s being held in the rooftop garden, we have to show these to the staff up there and they’ll let us in.”

“Alright then let’s go.” Sylva said, starting to head towards where the staff member pointed.

“Ah yeah hang on.” Badgerclops extended his arm snatching two tickets out Alec’s hand, “Mao Mao and I gotta talk about something first, right Mao?”

“Er, right?” Mao Mao gave him a quizzical look, “We’ll meet you up there.”

“Oh, sure thing!” Alec seemed a bit upset but for only a moment as he brightened up immediately, he and his friends head off down the hall and Badgerclops pulled Mao Mao aside towards the wall and everyone else.

“Mao Mao is something bugging you? You’ve been acting weird for a while.” Badgerclops asked and Mao Mao bit his lip and averted his gaze, “So something is, can you just, tell me for once instead of acting like a total weirdo about it?”

“Okay first of all, rude, second of all… I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to tell you.” Mao Mao looked around and pointed behind Badgerclops who turned his head to look, he assumed Mao Mao was pointing at a figure with a hood up and a metal pipe case, Badgerclops recognized them as it was akin to what blueprints were kept in. “They’ve been following us.”

“Huh?” 

“All day, since the Aquarium, I first noticed them watching you and Adorabat in the observation room but passed them off as someone else, then I saw them again at the restaurant, then earlier when we met up with Alec and his friends, and now they’re here.” Mao Mao grabbed Badgerclops’s face with his other hand and forced him to face him.

“Isn’t that just, a coincidence?” Badgerclops asked and Mao Mao shook his head.

“The restaurant I could say it was, but at this point I’m certain about it. I’m not sure of their intentions yet but I’m on guard. And…” Mao Mao shook his head, “That’s it.” He held back the words he wanted to say and took a ticket from Badgerclops, “Now c’mon, act casual.”

“Ah, sure dude.” Badgerclops followed him to the elevator and hit the button waiting for it to come, “... So what’s the deal with Alec?” Badgerclops suddenly asked and Mao Mao choked on his spit.

“W-what?” He looked up at Badgerclops in shock who just shrugged.

“I dunno, you’ve never easily made friends before. Happy for you.”

“Er, thanks?” Mao Mao said trying to read Badgerclops’s expression. The elevator arrived and they stepped inside and hit the roof button taking the ride in silence.

The elevator stopped once again and they stepped out into the warm tropical night air. There was a level of chatter already as people stood around tables and at one of the four bars and buffets Mao Mao could see on the roof, there was a stage in the center of the back wall with an orchestra playing music, Mao Mao assumed they were a famous group but he tended to be out of the loop on music. “Welcome,” One of the staff in front of the elevator said, “May I see your tickets sirs?” He asked and the heroes complied, “May I take your cape?”

“Er, no, the cape stays with me.” Mao Mao said and the horse bowed and gestured for them to head in. Mao Mao glanced around, not seeing the cloaked figure anywhere. “I’ll go find Alec and his friends.” He offered and Badgerclops nodded.

“I’m gonna go check out the buffet.” Badgerclops said, expected. The two parted ways, Badgerclops heading to the right side of the roof and Mao Mao the left. He wormed his way through the crowds looking for the calico and his companions as he went, keeping a hand on his sword, part to keep it from hitting people, part to be ready. 

After a bit of trudging Mao Mao emerged into a part of the roof that was surprisingly not crowded, he guessed he was in the middle of the roof by now as there was a large fountain surrounded by beds of gorgeous flowers, and ornate iron benches. Mao Mao did note that most of the only people in this area were couples, it was at this point that Mao Mao noticed the music from the band on the stage was being projected to the rest of the roof through loudspeakers. It was a rather relaxing spot, the sound of the fountain, the music playing, and the scent of the flowers really relaxed Mao Mao, he may have ended up being able to enjoy his night in peace. He finally took his hand off his sword and sighed pleasantly and turned around so his back to his fountain, but doing this revealed someone to him, “Oh, there you are.”

* * *

Badgerclops briefly wondered if he was taking too much food as he put another ham steak onto a plate. “Hmmm, think that’s most options here, let’s check another one to see if it’s the same.” He turned to go and noticed a certain calico chatting with someone. Badgerclops eyed him and walked over to him, it seemed their conversation was just ending as the person walked away and he waved at Badgerclops.

“Hey Badgerclops!” Alec said, approaching him, “Is Mao Mao with you?”

“Nope, he’s looking for you actually.”

“Ah I see, that gives us time to talk, one on one.” Alec’s demeanor suddenly changed, “So, Mao Mao called you family?” He asked and Badgerclops kept quiet for a second, that sounded like a lie Mao Mao would tell.

“We’re old friends, we’ve been together for a long time, practically a family.” He answered carefully, Badgerclops knew how to handle a conversation if he needed to, ever grateful Mao Mao was the more aggressive of the two.

“Ah I see, and that’s it? Just friends?” Badgerclops caught on immediately.

“So you like him?” Internally Badgerclops was glaring at him, keeping a cool outward appearance. 

“He’s certainly attractive, charming, I’ve always been enamored with the lifestyle of a hero so I find his stories fun to listen to.” Alec clasped his hands behind his back rocking back on his heels, “So yes, I do like him, however if there’s something between you just say so and I’ll back off. As a businessman I’ll pursue a deal I want until I can’t, but I do know when I need to give up. The way he talks makes it obvious he’s used to hiding his emotions so I don’t know.”

Badgerclops took a deep breath quickly trying to decide what to answer, tell him the truth, just say no, or lie… “Well, no there isn’t anything between us,” He said, “and that’s probably all we’ll ever be.” He said wondering if Alec would catch the hint, his knowing smile seemed to say yes.

“I see, that makes me feel better, well then Badgerclops, how about a deal?” Before Badgerclops could answer Alec turned around his tail swishing, “That man I was speaking to was the party planner, I know the set list of every group playing tonight. In two hours the next orchestra will be on it’s fourth song, a sonata written in the 17th century portraying a forbidden love, at,” Alec checked his watch, “10:20. Whichever of us can get Mao Mao to join us at the center fountain, without dragging or forcing him to go with a lie, before then gets to invite him to lunch at The Cat’s Crown. The most expensive restaurant in the entire rosert, located on the top floor of the Lucky Cat, paid for entirely by me.”

“That’s an awful bet- I lose nothing from this.” Badgerclops said being careful of the calico’s intentions. He laughed a bit and turned his head to look at Badgerclops over his shoulder holding a finger up to his lips.

“Well I don’t think our game should have a loser, after all, Mao Mao ultimately decides the winner. Participate or not, as you said, you’ve got nothing to lose.” Alec laughed again and walked off, “May the best man win.”


	8. Away with the Storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey remember how the last chapter took three months to come out and this one took like 6 days? Yeah me too- sometimes my work ethic just sky rockets and I think completing that last chapter sort of cleared a block in my head so chapters may come out quickly for a bit or they might not, who knows. Anyway this chapter feels shorter in my mind but it's about the same length, I don't really know how I feel about this chapter honestly but here it is. Enjoy1

Mao Mao stared down the cloaked figure, keeping his right hand on the handle of his sword, “Finally got tired of just following me huh?” The figure pointed at him and whispered something, Mao Mao didn’t dare get any closer to them to hear, shifting his left foot back down and drawing his sword a bit. The figure took the pipe case off their back and opened it and reached inside, gripping something. They tossed the case to the side revealing that it contained a spear, a rather short one at that. In one rushed and janky motion the figure lunged forward, the spear suddenly extended to an expected length stabbing it towards Mao Mao’s chest, he quickly drew his katana and blocked the thrust. People around them screamed at the sudden act of violence, Mao Mao pushed back against them and his opponent did the same, keeping them in a clash, “You really wanna do this here, in front of civilians?” Mao Mao growled and the figure smirked under their hood.

“Of course.” His voice was coarse and low, it was familiar to Mao mao somehow but he couldn’t put a finger on it. Mao Mao’s resolve was solidified by the cocky remark, he pushed back harder against him knocking him back and leapt to the side dodging another thrust. He lunged forward for his own stab but his opponent stepped back thrusting again, Mao Mao parried it and backed up creating more distance between them. He was  _ horribly _ inexperienced when it came to fighting people with polearms, as he had double the reach Mao Mao did, it made getting close impossible, he needed some sort of plan. Mao Mao’s ears twitched as he finally noticed the panic of the crowd around them.

“WILL YOU ALL GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE?!” He shouted, casting an arm out, “He’s after me so you all get yourselves to safety!” He demanded and the crowd dispersed in a bit of a panicked rush.

“Mao Mao!” He heard Badgerclops call out from somewhere but had no time to look for him as the mysterious opponent lunged forward with another stab, Mao Mao backed out of range glancing around when he noticed a mirror ball like decoration on a rotating pedestal. He dodged another stab and started to head to the pedestal keeping his eyes on his opponent, parrying another thrust. Despite his awkward movements he was quite good with a spear, as he was stabbing in places he recalled his father mentioning as blind spots for a swordsman. At this point he was mimicking his father's training with his Sister, keeping his distance and waiting. When they reached the pedestal Mao Mao swung his sword forward letting it’s light start to glow, as expected the attacker backed up unaware of what the sudden light signaled. Mao Mao leapt up and over the pedestal snatching the mirror ball.

“Batter up!” He threw it into the air and shut his eyes as it fell, taking a deep breath he swung his sword twice.

“Gah!” Judging by the brief resistance his blade met sudden shock he had met his mark, his sword’s everlasting light combined with the reflective mirror ball should have created a burst of light as mirror shards scattered about. He rushed forward and around the pedestal reaching out with his left hand and gripped someone's collar, without much hesitation he jerked them towards him and rammed his knee into their stomaching causing them to cough. He pushed them to the ground keeping his knee on them and pointed his sword at their throat, opening his eyes to reveal that he grabbed the right person.

“Talk, tell me who you are and what you want?” Mao Mao threatened and without a word the person suddenly slugged Mao Mao in the face knocking him back, he bounded up to his feet and grabbed his spear, his hood had fallen back in the sudden motion revealing his face, he was a lion with a scar across his left eye. Mao Mao stood back up still holding his sword and rubbed his cheek, it wasn’t a particularly hard punch but it caught him off guard. “That was a good hit.” Mao Mao said, starting to feel his adrenaline pumping. He glanced behind the lion and saw Badgerclops in the distance waving for Mao Mao, he had to wrap this up fast. The lion readied his spear again and Mao Mao readied his sword, he had none of his tools in his cape, they were all with his sash which he neglected to wear and coughing one up would take too long, so he still had to play the defensive. He looked back at Badgerclops and cocked his head to the side hoping Badgerclops would get the hint. Another thrust came at Mao Mao and he parried it backing up, he noticed they were getting closer to the stage, with it’s suspended lights…

  
  
  


Badgerclops kept his eye on Mao Mao as he had a standoff with the mysterious person who was following them, as he helped people get away from the roof. He could support Mao Mao from this distance with any gunfire as there were still civilians scrambling away and he didn’t want to hit anyone. “Guess Mao’s paranoia came in handy for once…” He said as Mao Mao suddenly jerked his head to the side, was that a signal? Badgerclops looked around and found Alec and his friends huddled by a bar, he ran over to them, “Hey can you three help get people off the roof? I need to go help Mao Mao.” 

“Yeah leave it to us,” Sylva said, “What’s going on?” Badgerclops shrugged and thanked them before taking off to the other end of the roof. Here he got a better look at the action, the lion had a spear with him and Mao Mao was on the defensive. The cat glanced at Badgerclops and then glanced up at the sky before returning his focus to the person he was fighting, parrying a stab. Badgerclops followed his gaze and noticed the stage lights.

“Does he want to drop them?” Badgerclops took to calculating trajectories in his head, “If he does… with current positions he’d totally miss them- at most it would be… A distraction!” He quickly shuffled the tools on his hand trying to find one of the many, many, weapons Mao Mao had made him hold onto, eventually producing a kunai, he took it with his other hand and fumbled with the small weapon. He had seen Mao Mao throw these so many times but couldn’t recall how he did it. “That dumb code probably tells him how… The code…?” There was a trick Mao Mao had done with kunai involving rope, wait, rope? The stage lights, the kunai, the spear. “Got it!” Badgerclops produced a length of rope from his arm, another ‘installation’ of Mao Mao’s and looped it into the hole on the kunai and tied it off, it wasn’t as good as Mao Mao’s knots but it should work, “MAO!” He chucked the kunai at Mao Mao who saw it coming from a mile away. He caught the kunai by the rope and swung his sword cutting the rope off of Badgerclops, now with the newly tied Kunai Mao Mao ducked down and under the spear wrapping a small part of it around the shaft of the spear and threw the kunai sticking it in a wall. Holding the rope in one hand his sword in the other Mao Mao leapt back and pulled the rope taut, causing the lion to stumble, with expert agility Mao Mao swung his leg up and kicked the lion in the jaw knocking him back.

“Here goes… Lunar Lash!” His sword’s light ignited and he swung it hitting the lion with the flat of his blade knocking him back further towards the edge of the roof. “You’re disarmed and surrounded!” Mao Mao barked and Badgerclops pulled out his blaster aiming it at the lion who had his back to the wall. “Surrender yourself now and this won’t get any worse for you.” Mao Mao pointed at the lion whose expression never once changed. Without any warning the lion turned around and leapt off the side of the roof, “Hey wait!” Mao Mao shouted rushing to the edge and looking over, “What the-.” Badgerclops joined him and looked over the edge.

“He’s gone?!” There was no sign of the lion anywhere, no balconies for him to grab, no ship waiting to catch him, no one even falling. He was gone.

“The hell…” Mao Mao backed off and sheathed his sword, “There goes getting any answers from him…” Mao Mao sighed and approached the spear that had been left behind and picked it up looking it over.

“You okay dude?” Badgerclops asked and Mao Mao nodded quietly. “He attacked you, I take it?”

“Yes, I ran into him at the fountain and without a word he pulled the spear on me.” Mao Mao kept his gaze fixed on the spear, “Take a look at this.” He offered the spear to Badgerclops who took it, “There’s an, insignia, of some kind on the blade.” Sure enough there was it, it had a character from some foreign language as the back surrounded by a diamond with snakes curling around the edges of it. “Any guesses?”

“Dunno, never seen anything like it in my life…” He felt he had seen the character before but couldn’t recall, Mao Mao knew a couple other languages so maybe it was something similar to what Mao Mao knew, “Leave any other evidence behind?”

“Oh yeah, the case he kept it in, it’s in the center of the roof.” Mao Mao headed off that way and Badgerclops followed him. Mao Mao crouched down and picked up the case that was haphazardly tossed into a flower bed and looked it over, “Nothing… That spear is our only hint.” Mao Mao took it back and collapsed it, putting it into the case and closing it, handing it off to Badgerclops who hooked it over his shoulder. 

“Mao Mao, Badgerclops.” Alec called out running towards them, “Island security is here, they want to talk to you about what just happened here Mao Mao, it didn’t sound like you were in trouble, just curious about what happened.”

“Alright, I’ll talk to them, thank you Alec.” Mao Mao bowed his head a bit and headed off towards the roof entrance.

“Looks like you won.” Alec said standing next to Badgerclops, “I was a bit unclear on the rules, so therefore you got Mao Mao here first so you win.” Badgerclops had wanted to say he totally forgot about the bet but that was a lie, it was the second most prominent thing in his mind next to the voice screaming to protect Mao Mao.

  
  


* * *

Mao Mao and Badgerclops split off from Alec and his friends for the night and sat on the Aerocycle watching it leave, “I’m sorry…” Mao Mao said quietly leaning on the handlebars.

  
“For?”

“For fighting- we’re on vacation and I-.”

“Dude, who  _ knows  _ what that lion would have done to others if you hadn’t acted, at most you did what, break a single mirror ball and crush a few roses? No one was hurt, I’d say that was pretty heroic.” Badgerclops said calmly and Mao Mao felt his face warm.

“Th-thanks…” He murmured darkly, “Say uh Badgerclops… Could I…” He trailed off turning around on the Aerocycle so he was facing Badgerclops, he had a warm smile on his face, “Could I have a hug-?”

“Pssh that’s all dude? Sure thing-.” Badgerclops sounded a bit surprised but hugged Mao Mao close to him without any complaint, Mao Mao sighed happily pressing himself into Badgerclops. They stayed like this for a while before Mao Mao pulled back and turned back around putting on his helmet.

“Alright that’s enough affection for today. C’mon let’s go back, I’m exhausted.” Mao Mao said and started up the Aerocycle with it’s familiar roar and took off into the night.

  
  


They flew back to Gilded Wolf in relative silence as Mao Mao mulled over the fight in his head. The Lion was awkward but well trained, what was messing him up? A previous injury, lack of practice, or was it something else? Then there was the spear he used, extending weapons like that were rare, and thus, expensive, meaning they had to have been rich or a hired assassin. Possibilities swam through Mao Mao’s mind as he landed the cycle in their parking spot again and put his helmet away, “So uh Mao-.” Badgerclops suddenly said, “Alec uh, he uh… Offered to pay for a lunch for us at the Cat’s Crown. The restaurant at the top of Lucky Cat.”

“Oh he did? That was nice of him.” Mao Mao said trying to read Badgerclops’s expression, “Wouldn’t our contest cover that though?” They hopped off the bike and started to head back to the room, through the crowds of people heading in and out for the night.

“Oh uh, I read that the Cat’s Crown was exempt from the contest, so I left it off my list of places to go.” Mao Mao couldn’t tell if he was lying or not, but it didn’t really matter or not.

“Oh well, want to go do that tomorrow? I have his number so you can call him, I’m sure Adorabat would like that.”

“Oh uh, I think Alec meant, just the two us. He might have misread our relationship, I think he meant it as a kind of, date.” Badgerclops cleared his throat and Mao Mao blanched.

“D-date?” He stuttered, probably because he was forced to get closer to him to pass by a pack of people gathered by the entrance of the door. Badgerclops laughed a bit as they stepped inside.

“Yeah it’s ridiculous right? To think we were dating-. N-not that I’m upset by that, or by the idea of dating you just the-.” Badgerclops was panicking now and Mao Mao felt like he was gonna throw up, “Just weird cuz you’re not gay is all-.”

Ah, that’s what he thought. Mao Mao felt like something in him had been stabbed with that statement but he ignored the feeling and chuckled, patting Badgerclops on the back as best as he could due to the difference in height, “I get it. But why not take him up on the offer, maybe make it for dinner instead so we don’t have to leave Adorabat alone, while she’s awake.” Mao Mao felt another twinge of pain as they stopped in front of the elevator, “We’ve been ignoring her haven’t we-.”

“Yeah, we have.” Badgerclops hit the button and they waited in silence and took the elevator in silence too. They headed to the room and Badgerclops stepped inside stretching, “I’m gonna take a shower, unless you wanna go first.”

Mao Mao shook his head, “I need to call my father, I doubt he’s up at this hour but couldn’t hurt to try.” It was about 11 now, Mao Mao headed to his room and opened the door, “Goodnight Badgerclops.” Mao Mao said and Badgerclops nodded as he stepped inside. Once inside his room Mao Mao hopped onto his bed, grabbed a pillow, and screamed into it. Still holding the pillow he rolled onto his back with a sigh, “Well at least that’s my answer- Badgerclops doesn’t know which means even if that is how I feel it won’t be reciprocated.” Mao Mao sighed expecting the revelation to take a weight off of him but it just made him a bit sadder, “Oh come on Mao Mao, you’re a Mao, you don’t have time to lie in bed sad about feelings you  _ don’t  _ have.” He bounced onto his feet and got undressed and then flopped back down onto his bed, he had intended to call his father, ask about the insignia, see how the Kingdom was doing but he just didn’t feel like it. He rolled onto his side and hugged the pillow again with a sigh. He wanted to sleep, he wanted this awful feeling to go away, he wanted the nagging in the back of his head that Blue was right to go away, he just wanted. He just wanted…

  
  


He just wanted the rain to stop. Mao Mao and Badgerclops  _ has  _ planned to go on a picnic date that day but the sudden rainfall had cancelled their plans. Mao Mao stared out the window with a gloomy sigh, curling up in his cape tighter, tropical storms tended to arrive suddenly and take a while to leave so they would no doubt have to reschedule, unless one of the hotels had an indoor garden that let people have picnics in them. There was a knocking on the door and Mao Mao glanced at it, “Come in.” He said and the door opened and Badgerclops came inside and shut the door before joining Mao Mao in sitting by the window. Badgerclops kisses him on the cheek and followed his gaze.

“Bummed we can’t go out?” Mao Mao leaned against Badgerclops who accepted him with a hug.

“Yeah, I was looking forward to this too.” They had picked out a special cobbler and everything, “This stupid rain had to ruin it all.” He sighed and Badgerclops chuckled.

“Then we’ll just have to stay inside. There’s plenty of stuff we can do inside.”

“Like what?” Mao Mao looked hot at Badgerclops expectantly and he smiled.

“Like cuddling, kissing, watching movies all day, we could even take a trip to your bed and…~”

“Shut it.” Mao Mao elbowed him gently but felt his face warm at the hinting, “Though I wouldn’t mind watching movies, as long as we don’t watch any of those garbage old Sci-Fi B-Movies you’re so fond of.” 

“Right then let’s do that.” Badgerclops stood up and scooped Mao Mao up in his arms and brought their faces closer and nuzzled him. He headed out of the room and onto the couch extending his arm out to grab the remote.

“Where’s Adorabat?” Mao Mao asked and Badgerclops didn’t respond, “... Adorabat-?”

“ADORABAT!” Mao Mao jolted awake at the sound of thunder and loud thud and grabbed his cape and sword drawing it and rushed out of his room. The main room was dark and he could hear rain hitting the glass of the window and he looked around. Nothing was out of place, he took a quick peek into each of their rooms and everything was fine, “Guess I’m just paranoid…” He sighed and padded over to the couch and sat down with a sigh covering himself with his cape, “Hadn’t heard anything about rain today- if the party went in like normal it would have been cancelled.” He briefly imagined Badgerclops and Alec drenched from the rain, Mao Mao shook his head and laid down, “I’m obviously riled up from that dream, but if it was another prophetic one, it already came true because of the rain.” Or had the rain bled into his dream? He looked out the window at the still bright sky thanks to the lights from the hotels.

“Mao Mao?” A quiet voice asked and he looked up to see Adorabat fluttering over to the couch.

“Ah Adorabat, sorry did I wake you up?” She nodded and dropped down next to Mao Mao who sat up. “Sorry about that, I just had a bad dream and got freaked out, even heroes get nightmares.” He said and Adorabat smiled.

“That’s good to know… Hey uh Mao Mao do you think I might be sick?” Before Mao Mao could respond Adorabat continued talking, “I keep getting super tired all the time, is there something wrong with me?”

“I don’t think so.” Mao Mao said, trying to be careful with his words, “I think you may just be jet lagged. It happens when you travel far away from home, plus you’ve never left the valley before…” Mao Mao recalled the ruby pure heart, it had protected the Sweetypies for so long, they were used to feeling its presence, was Adorabat’s exhaustion coming from not being around it? “I’m sure you’ll feel better soon, we still have a long time here. Once you’re feeling 100% again let’s play together, all three of us.”

“Promise?” Adorabat extended her wing and Mao Mao put one of his paw pads against it.

“Promise. Now, I’m going back to sleep,” Mao Mao yawned, “Don’t stay up all night.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t. Goodnight Mao Mao!”

“Goodnight Adorabat.” Mao Mao beaded back to his room and shut the door, instead of going to the end he went to the window and stared outside for a while, he wrapped his cape around himself and sat down, watching the rain hit the glass. He knew he probably wouldn’t get to sleep again for the rest of the night but that was fine. He turned around and laid back so his head was by the window and sighed. He wished he had that lion's spear again but island security took it, he had the insignia committed to memory and that gnawed at him, the lion, the insignia, it was all so  _ familiar _ to him but he just couldn’t place where or when he had seen it. He wanted to scream in frustration but kept quiet. “Think Mao Mao, the snakes and the diamond, where did I see that…” He shut his eyes with a huff, he didn’t plan to fall asleep again but if he did that was fine with him, hopefully that the nagging in his head would go away with the storm.


	9. If it's to Solve a Mystery

“... and that’s about the entirety of it sir.” The gruff lion said and watched as his boss swirled his glass of wine. 

“So you, lost?” Without another word he threw the glass to the ground and it shattered, the contents splashing everywhere even onto the lion’s foot, “Clean that up and bring me a new glass Cosmos.” 

“Right away sir.” The lion put an arm across his chest and began to pick up the glass shards with his bare hands and took off. 

“Ah poor Cosmos, hands so numb even broken glass doesn’t phase you.” He sighed and sat back in his chair and stared at his reflection in the turned off monitor in front of him. He was a young wolf, his ears standing straight up blending in with the darkness behind him, his midnight black fur which was dotted with flecks of dark grey.

“Uh excuse me, Sir Rose-.” A voice spoke up and the wolf shot daggers at the source, it was the young mouse titled Lavender, “Eep! Er sorry sir, Cosmos said you wanted more wine?” He was holding a tray with a fresh glass and bottle of his favorite vintage. Rose waved a paw dismissively.

“I’m not in the mood anymore, you’re dismissed Lavender.” He said and the mouse made the same saluting motion the lion had and turned to leave, “Oh, and tell the others I’m not to be disturbed.” 

“Y-yes Sir Rose.” The mouse hurried out of the room shutting the door behind him. Rose stood up and adjusted his clothes, simple nightwear that was the most expensive he could find, the light smooth silk fluttering a bit as he moved. He headed over to the door for the balcony and opened them a crack letting the rainy scent in, he looked at a picture he kept on a table next to the door. It was of four people, two cats and two wolves. The cats were from the legendary Mao family.

“It’s a shame Mao Mao, you grew up into such a handsome man.” He said and picked up the picture, “Truly a shame I’ll have to crush you.” He pressed a claw onto the frame above the young Mao Mao’s face and cracked the glass before setting the picture back down and looking back outside once again clasping his hands behind his back and laughed to himself.

* * *

When Mao Mao woke up again he was in bed, he didn’t sleep walk that he knew of so this was odd. He sat up and looked over to the other side of the bed expecting Badgerclops to be there but it was empty, next he looked at the window, as evident by the sound echoing in the background it was still raining. Guess they really were stranded for the day. Mao Mao threw off his covers and got out of bed and got partially dressed. He headed out of his room and saw Badgerclops on the couch like usual, “Good morning.” Mao Mao said, surprised to be up after Badgerclops.

“Morning Mao, you know it’s bad for your back to sleep on the floor.” Badgerclops said and Mao Mao shrugged checking the time, it was about 9. “We were waiting for you to get up before we went to Breakfast, though our options are highly limited since we’re stuck for the day. Weather says the rain isn’t gonna stop until tomorrow.” Mao Mao nodded, the rain kind of bummed him out and he really didn’t feel like going anywhere, or was that the lack of sleep he got saying that.

“Have anywhere in mind?” Mao Mao asked and Badgerclops dug around in his belt for his list and showed it to Mao Mao. It was surprisingly organized compared to what Mao Mao expected, there were notes of common menu items next to each restaurant. He looked over the list before a craving struck, “I want pancakes again-.” He said and Badgerclops pulled the list back and looked through it.

“Well you’re in luck! There’s a place that serves just pancakes here on Gilded Wolf.” Badgerclops begrudgingly stood up, “We don’t have any of our rain gear huh, we’ll have to buy some.” Mao Mao felt something nagging at him as he looked at Badgerclops.

_“Just weird cuz you’re not gay is all-.”_ Oh that was it, he was still thinking about Badgerclops had said last night. He didn’t take offence to it on further thought, he had never told Badgerclops, but he couldn’t help but wonder what he had meant by it. Was he interested in men and thought Mao Mao wasn’t? Or did he just assume Mao Mao was into girls because of Tanya? Mao Mao bit the inside of his cheek not wanting to say anything.

“You okay dude? You’re awfully quiet today.” Badgerclops said snapping Mao Mao out of his stupor. 

“Oh what? Yeah I’m fine, I was just thinking about last night.” He said hoping Badgerclops assumed he meant the lion rather than what he had said. Mao Mao sighed and shook his head, “I need a shower before we go. Give me a minute.” He said and headed off to the bathroom.

“Ah sure thing, don’t fall asleep in the tub again.” Badgerclops joked as Mao Mao got to the door but there was suddenly a knock at their door, “I got it.” Badgerclops said and headed over to the room's door and opened it, “What the-. No one’s here… Huh?” Badgerclops bent over to pick something up, “A letter, it’s addressed to you.” Badgerclops extended his arm over to Mao Mao to hand him the letter and was struck with Deja Vu.

“Thanks.” Mao Mao took the letter and headed into the bathroom and closed the door and opened the letter, he pulled it out but it was nothing more than a single sheet of paper and a card key, “Let’s see here…”

_To the esteemed Mao Mao Mao,_

_Having witnessed your combat abilities personally and your noble nature defending the patrons of our dear resort we hereby invite you to compete in the Lucky Cat Coliseum. This key card will allow you to access the arena at any time, come after midnight tonight to demonstrate your skills for a rich audience and potentially receive a special prize._

_Signed,_

_Melbourne_ _ Luckii, owner and proprietor of the Golden Cat Hotel. _

Mao Mao looked at the card key, it was blank on the front apart from the letters L.C.C on it. “Pfft what nonsense I don’t fight for sport.” Mao Mao crumpled up the letter and tossed it in the trash and was about to do the same to the key card when he noticed something, the insignia of the Moon Wolf Guild was on the card, the silhouette of a wolf howling in front of a full moon. All the hotels’ insignia were on the back of the card, none of them matched the one on the spear from last night but something nagged at him. He stuffed the card in his sash and disrobed to finally take a shower. 

Feeling refreshed after one of his usual speedy showers, Mao Mao returned to his room and got fully dressed this time. He glanced at the phone again and sighed, no use putting it off any longer. He poked his head out of his room, “Hey Badgerclops.”

“What’s up?”

“You guys can go to breakfast without me, bring back my usual, I need to call my dad.” He said and Badgerclops nodded.

“Aight, c’mon Adorabat. See you later Mao.” Mao Mao nodded and went back into his room and headed over to the phone. He picked it up and dialed the number of the pure heart sheriff office. He held the receiver up to his ear and listened to the dial tone. After a few rings someone answered.

“Hello this is the legendary Shin Mao speaking, currently filling in for my son's job while he’s on vacation.” His father’s voice came from the other side and Mao Mao cleared his throat.

“Hello, Papa.” 

“Ah Mew, er, Mao Mao! How’s the vacation going?”

Odd, “Fine, it’s been a few days so I thought I’d call to see how the kingdom’s doing.” He played with the phone cord nervously, not expecting the detailed report he craved he needed to know regardless.

“Oh pretty well, those sky pirates you play with came by but when they saw me they ran away and didn’t come back. And you were right about that king’s ridiculous requests, wanting fresh pineapple of all things.” 

“That sounds like his majesty alright…” Mao Mao has a million other things he wanted to ask his father, such as how people were so familiar with their family, what that insignia was, but his mouth didn’t want to say the words, “Papa,” he said carefully, “Is there any history of, magic, in our family?” 

“Ours? No, the Mao clan has always been left out of the magic pool, hence the legendary magic weapons we use.

Your mother’s family on the other hand, I believe there was a powerful spell caster or two somewhere in her heritage, why do you ask?” ‘Because I’m having prophetic dreams in which I’m fornticating with my best friend’ was what he needed to say.

“Just curious is all.” Mao Mao said, “Well uh, we’re going to breakfast just wanted to call you, see how the Kingdom was. I’ll call again in a few days.”

“Alright, enjoy yourself son.” Shin said over the line and hung up. Mao Mao hung the phone up and sat down on his bed and laid back with a sigh. Calling his father was always stressful, and he didn’t get to say half the things that were on his mind.

“Now I wish I went with them, pancakes would distract me from these cursed mysteries.” He said and rolled over onto his stomach so he was looking out the window across the room. He couldn’t see outside because of the rain hitting the glass but he was determined to stare out into the horizon regardless. The insignia, what is it and where had he seen it, how did the lion disappear last night, “and why do I keep dreaming of me and Badgerclops dating-.” Then the reminder that he wanted to call Blue about them again struck him, “No! He’s just gonna go ‘well you’re obviously in love with him’ again.” 

He put his hands on his head and groaned, he wanted to swing his sword and make all the annoying thoughts go away, but he couldn’t go outside and he didn’t want to break anything. Then he recalled the key card he had shoved in his sash not even fifteen minutes ago, he didn’t fight for sport but if it was to solve a mystery he could make an exception.

* * *

Alec sat at a desk in his hotel room staring a blueprint spread out on it. He tended not to bring his work with him but this was special, it was the blueprint to his hand. He brought it everywhere when he travelled afar just so he could repair it with ease in case it got damaged. As was the norm for the majority of the trip, the room was empty, despite coming as a group he and his friends had totally different agendas. Or he thought he was alone, Sylva suddenly sat down on the edge of the table, “Finally getting around to upgrading your hand?”

“Maybe,” Alec said and glanced up at her. She was dressed rather fancy for 9 in the morning, “Going somewhere?”

“Yeah, I’m getting coffee with this cute girl I met last night.”

“And you hounded me for wanting to go on a date with Mao Mao.” Sylva gave him a look of mock offense. 

“Well it’s different in my case, I’ve never had a fully committed relationship with anyone and you just got off of Boyfriend Number Five.”

“In fairness boyfriends 2, 3, and 5 all cheated on me.” Sylva nodded in response, “And what about Clayton? You two felt pretty serious.”

“Eh Clayton’s a good guy but my job got in the way of us being together, being personal assistant to a flake like you is a full time job. Speaking of, what brought on the consideration of upgrading your hand?” Alec sat back in his chair and looked at his hand, it was truly that; just a hand. “Wait I can guess, you’re jealous of Badgerclops and think Mao Mao will like you more if you have a cool prosthetic too.”

Alec rolled his eyes and shook his head, “It’s not that, well Badgerclops is the cause, but that’s not it. Meowzin prosthetics have always been just body parts, they’re replacements. Badgerclops’s arm is an enhancement. We help survivors recover rather than emboldening the savior, shouldn’t we do more than just one thing?” Sylva shrugged and hopped off the table and pat Alec on the head.

“I dunno Alec, you’re the engineer and heir to the company. If anyone can make it work it’s you. I’ll bring you back a coffee.” She said and didn’t give him a chance to respond as she was already out of the room leaving him alone once again. Hen and the others had gone to explore the rest of Gilded Wolf leaving Alec to concentrate on his work.

“That thing Badgerclops did where he quickly switched between different functions, you’d need a much larger prosthetic than a hand of something like that…” He sat back and recalled the fight from last night, he hadn’t seen many fights up close apart from watching an occasional boxing match of Hen’s. He didn’t know how fighters moved, he couldn’t tell what a prosthetic suited for combat needed. His train of thought was cut off by his phone ringing. He sighed and checked the caller, his father, “Of course…” he cleared his throat and answered the phone, “Hello dad.” 

“Alec, good you answered, I need you to-.” Alec sighed.

“For the hundredth time I’m on vacation.” He folded the blueprint over and sat back.

“Ah that’s right, you’ll be back soon though?”

“Not for two weeks dad… Honestly I know you’re looking to retire as soon as possible but I never said I wanted to run the company- can’t you get one of my brothers to do it?”

“But none of them are as smart as you, besides you’re the eldest. Alec Meowzin is exactly who the company needs to lead them to success.” Alec sighed, he wasn’t the leading type; he rather support people from the background. 

“Flattery will get you nowhere dad.” Alec said and shook his head, “Oh Hen’s calling for me, gotta go.” 

“Hen? You’re still friends with that-.”

“Bye dad love you!” Alec hung up and tossed his phone aside with a grumble, “Yeesh talking to him always makes me so tense, I need some stress relief-.” He said and glanced at a crumpled piece of paper on the desk, it was an invitation to watch and make bets on some coliseum they had under Lucky Cat. He picked it up and pulled it back to normal, “Hmm, maybe not the best stress relief but I could certainly get some research in…” Any event hosted on Lucky Cat was ritzy as all get out, he’d need to dress his best for tonight.

* * *

It was soon 11 PM, the rain had lightened up but was still coming down regardless, Alec was looking himself over in the mirror, one of his fancier suits he had brought in case the need arose, whether it be attending a fancy party or going on a date. “Oooh looking sharp boss.” Hen called from the entrance to the room, “Going somewhere?”

“Yes actually. Last night I struck a deal with someone looking to invest in the company so we’re going to discuss terms.” A simple enough lie, Hen smirked and pat Alec on the back.

“Going for number 6 huh? Well I wish you luck, maybe go buy some condoms-.” Alec thumped Hen on the snout.

“Shush, it’s not a date, seriously. We’re meeting on Lucky Cat so I have to look nice.” The horse nodded.

“Don’t get mistaken for an employee now.” Hen let Alec past and out into the main room.

Alec laughed a bit and shook his head, “Oh I won’t. Now I’ll probably be back before tomorrow.” Alec said and headed off.

It was a quick flight to Lucky Cat thanks to the Aerocycle’s immense speed. Mao Mao found a spot to land and got off and steadied his nerves. He had been fighting for most of his life so he didn’t need to worry about being upstaged, he just had to fight with the same serious intent as always. Though he had no idea of where exactly the Colosseum was and the key card offered no help, so he decided to simply head into the lobby and figure it out from there. The lobby itself was even more fancy than Mao Mao expected, the plush red carpet felt like a cloud under his paws, he was also fairly certain the golden accents on the columns were actual gold. And just completing the theme, everyone he saw in uniform around him was a cat, “Towel for you sir?” One suddenly said, offering him a nice fluffy towel, Mao Mao was pretty much soaked from the rain.

“Ah thanks-.” He took the towel and started to dry himself off.

“What brings you to Lucky Cat today good sir?” The cat asked and Mao Mao pauses to consider his answer. He finished drying himself off and handed the towel back to the worker.

“I got an invitation…” He said carefully and the attendant lit up.

“Ah another competitor! At least by the sword at your waist I assume you’re competing. Come right this way sir.” The attendant quickly headed off to an elevator at the other end of the lobby, Mao Mao followed after with haste. Once he got there the attendant hit the button and waited quietly as the numbers above it ticked down quickly, “It’s been so long since we last got a new fighter. Matches tend to get boring if you’re watching the same eight people fight each other.” Mao Mao understood most of what he said, you tend to fall into a pattern if you spar with the same people a lot.

“Is the coliseum really that popular?” Considering he hadn’t heard anything about it until now it had to have been a well kept secret, but why? Sport fighting had existed for a long time and wasn’t illegal by any extent. 

“Oh yes, very popular. Tonight’s actually special, there’s some high profile audience members tonight.” Mao Mao wondered truly how high profile these people were but he didn’t say anything. The doors opened and they stepped inside, “May I see your invitation key card?”

“Oh yes.” Mao Mao dug around in his sash and pulled out the key card and handed it to the other. He took the card and swiped it in a card reader and suddenly the other side of the elevator opened. The employee headed off once again and Mao Mao continued to follow, “So uh- how does this all work?”

“Well it’s quite simple. You and your opponent are announced to the crowd along with our experts predictions on the victor. Then people place bets on you for a bit, the predicted winner gives a 1.5 times multiplier but the predicted loser has a triple multiplier. The winner gets 15% of the initial betting value while the betters get the rest. If the reward is greater than the other side of the bet lucky cat supplements the rest.” 

“High risk high return…” People we’re going to be betting on Mao Mao’s skills, the thought unsettled him. “Is it tournament style?”

“Normally but I believe tonight's is a single exhibition match between you and.” The cat covered his mouth, “Oops almost spoiled the surprise.” They stopped in front of a door, “Here’s your waiting room, when they call your name over the intercom just head through those doors over there.” He pointed to a large set of doors at the other end of the hall, “The key-cards are unique per competitor so you’re all checked in. Good luck tonight.” The employee bowed and headed off. Mao Mao rolled his eyes and leaned against the door instead of going in, determined to sharpen his focus before he had to work just like he always did.

It wasn’t long before Mao Mao heard his name called and head off to the doors, the attendant stepped aside and bowed the doors opening slowly inward and Mao Mao wince at the sudden change in lighting as he stepped out from the dark hallway onto the arena floor, “Ladies and gentlemen, the elite of the elite, are you ready for tonight's Lucky Cat Exhibition?!” An announcer roared over the speakers matched by the sound of a loudly cheering crowd. “Tonight we’ve got a special gift for you all! A round between one of our famous champions and a competitor hand selected by Melbourne Luckii himself!” Another cheer arose as Mao Mao took his place on his side of the field and put his hand on his sword. 

The arena was large, a simple hexagon pattern with some metallic sections but mostly dirt, Mao Mao guessed it was about 25 feet in length, his opponent stood in the opposite end of the arena dressed in a cloak. “Our champion for the night! You know him, you love him, the beautiful, graceful, Orchid!” His opponent suddenly cast aside his cloak revealing himself to be a lynx, he didn’t appear to have a weapon on him however and he held his arms behind his back. “And his opponent, a wandering swordsman who’s fought to protect the peace of our islands despite only being a guest, it’s the mysterious Mao Mao!”

“Mysterious huh? I like the sound of that.” Mao Mao laughed to himself and drew his sword holding it in front of him.

“Now then! Let’s hear those predictions!” The announcer called and the crowd cheered, “Okay I’ve got the prediction! Your predicted winner is Orchid, as this will be is 100th straight win in a row!” The lynx didn’t react to loud cheering support, “Which makes our predicted loser the guest Mao Mao! Alright everyone place your bets on Orchid…. Now!” The crowd began to erupt with people shouting numbers out, all fairly big numbers at that ranging from 10,000 to 50,000. “Annnnd anyone voting for the underdog call out bets now!” And there was utter silence apart from a few stray calls of small values, not even above 5,000. Mao Mao didn’t expect much anyways, he just wanted to fight, however his concentration was broken by a sudden shout.

“FIVE MILLION ON MAO MAO!” Mao Mao recognized the voice and he turned to where the shout came from.

“Oooh we’ve got a big spender in the crowd today! Can we get a spotlight on them?” A bright light was suddenly cast on where the call was from, “Well I’ll be, it’s Alec Meowzin! Heir to the A Meowzin Prosthetic company! You’ve got a powerful supporter there Mao Mao!” The calico shied away from the light and sat back down.

“Tch please. A high bet doesn’t mean anything.” Orchid scoffed and Mao Mao turned to face him, “Look I don’t mean anything by it but you’re gonna be my hundredth win in this arena, why Mr. Luckii is interested in you I don’t know but that doesn’t matter, you’re a nobody, and I live to _crush_ nobodies.” Orchid finally revealed his arms showing one to be armed with a gauntlet of sorts and the other to be a robotic prosthetic.

“Heh that’s funny. Cuz to me _you’re_ the nobody. And a legendary hero like myself doesn’t lose to nobodies.” Mao Mao readied his sword and Orchid shifted into a fighting stance with his gauntlet forward.

“The bets are placed and the stage is set! Who will be the winner of this battle of wills? Who will be left standing when the dust clears? Ready everyone?” The announcer was hyping up the crowd now.

**“3!”**

**“2!”**

**“1!**

“Let’s get on with the bloodshed! Begin!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are starting to pick up plot wise and I am excited to write what's ahead! Thank you for reading and I hope you all continue to enjoy!.


	10. Lucky Cat Exhibiton

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back to another episode of 'Arcadius's really whack work ethic.' Which means it will be another two months to the next chapter probably. Got new hours at work so I have a ton more off time so hopefully I can do at least one or two chapters a month (keyword hopefully).

“The bets are placed and the stage is set! Who will be the winner of this battle of wills? Who will be left standing when the dust clears? Ready everyone?” The announcer was hyping up the crowd now.

**“3!”**

**“2!”**

**“1!”**

“Let’s get on with the bloodshed! Begin!” With the signal to start Orchid rushed forward throwing a punch. Mao Mao turned his sword blocking the hit with the flat of his blade and they clashed against each other for a moment. Mao Mao took a brief moment to assess the strength of the punch as Orchid leapt back and readied to run forward again.

“Less of a brawler, more of a fleetfoot huh?” Mao Mao asked but Orchid just scoffed rushing in to deliver more consecutive punches which Mao Mao blocked, Orchid switched it up and threw a low hook towards Mao Mao’s side, he swung his sword low and parried it and shot his other hand out to catch a sucker punch Orchid had thrown hoping to catch him off guard, the cat smirked wryly and tightened his grip on his hand and threw a kick to the lynx’s chest knocking him back. Orchid let out a sharp breath bracing the kick and leapt back, “AD-.” Mao Mao cut himself off, he was about to call for Adorabat out of instinct. He shook his head and rushed forward swinging his sword, Orchid backstepped to dodge the series of slashes Mao Mao tried to land. Mao Mao had a clear advantage in range but Orchid didn’t have any weapon to worry about allowing him to dodge with ease.

“Our competitors are evenly matched! A slow start always leads to a dramatic finish!” The announcer was good at hamming it up as nothing really exciting was happening. Mao Mao’s arm would get tired before Orchid got tired of dodging so he had to change things up, on the followup of a slash Mao Mao thrust his sword forward causing Orchid to side step, Geraldine tore through part of Orchid’s clothes as he hadn’t moved fast enough. Mao Mao used the motion to throw a roundhouse kick, the lynx blocked it and went to grab Mao Mao’s leg but he leapt back quickly and regained his balance.

“I’ll admit  _ nobody _ you’ve got a modicum of skill.” Orchid cracked the knuckles on his real hand and cocked his head to the side cracking his neck, “But I didn’t get to 99 wins with my footwork alone.” Suddenly portions of his robotic arm opened and his hand shifted into a sharp blade, much shorter than Mao Mao’s sword but certainly just as sharp. He drove the sharp blade straight towards Mao Mao and he once again blocked it, they ground their blades against each other digging their heels into the ground.

“Nice trick, but I’ve got a couple of my own.” Mao Mao backed up suddenly reaching into his belt and Orchid stumbled forward, Mao Mao pulled out a set of shurikens and tossed them, the first two missed and Orchid recovered enough to block one with his gauntlet which was what Mao Mao had expected, he want for another stab but Orchid parried. Mao Mao huffed leaping back from Orchid to assess the situation, they were more evenly matched now but he had the slight advantage with how long his sword was compared to the blade on Orchid’s arm. Orchid shook the shuriken off his gauntlet and pointed his blade right at Mao Mao, suddenly the blade shot out and passed Mao Mao striking the wall, he looked back at the blade seeing a chain attached to it, the chain shot back and Mao Mao turned to see Orchid fly forward and struck Mao Mao’s chest with his leg… Except he didn’t feel it, Mao Mao blinked and Orchid was still standing there aiming his arm, “What was-.” Just like Mao Mao saw the blade shot forward and past him.

“Here it comes folks! Orchid’s famous…”

“CHAIN KICK!” The crowd roared and Mao Mao heard the sound of metal grinding as Orchid shot forward. Mao Mao didn’t flinch, side stepped quickly turning on his heel as Orchid passed and caught his other leg and yanked him back tearing his blade from the wall and threw him to the ground leaping back.

“OH?! Mao Mao saw through the champ’s secret technique?!” Mao Mao was just as confused as the announcer was. Orchid writhed on the ground for a second, the slack chain slowly returning to his arm as he stood up clutching his robotic arm which sparked.

“H-how the hell did you do that-?!” His blade shifted back to a normal hand, “Shit- it’s busted…” Mao Mao took his chance and lunged forward slashing his blade, Orchid barely dodged, Geraldine tearing some of his clothes as he leapt back. 

“That’s what you get for underestimating a legendary hero.” He wasn’t entirely sure what was going on but Mao Mao saw the opportunity to change the battle in his favor.

“Whatever.” Orchid hissed and struck his arm, “I don’t need a trick like that to beat you.” He shifted back into his original fighting stance and Mao Mao flourished his sword holding it in front of him again. Seems he had more stamina than he thought, even after a hit like that his form was still perfect, Mao Mao needed a way to end this quickly. He shifted his foot back and felt something move in his belt, Adorabat’s smoke bombs. 

“That’s right I hold her spares…” He whispered to himself when an idea struck him, a strategy he’d normally use when fighting with Adorabat and Badgerclops but he could compensate with his own talents. His eyes darted around as he formed his plans, the walls of the arena were tall and had a metal fence at the top, he felt about eight smoke bombs in his belt and he’d need all of them, Orchid’s arm sparked again and Mao Mao had his plan, “Hope you’re ready Orchid. I’m ready to end this here and now!” 

“Oh that’s it!” Orchid growled and rushed forward throwing a punch with his gauntlet first, Mao Mao parried and quickly grabbed the smoke bombs with his free hand, the lynx then went for a bunch with his robotic arm and it sparked, Mao Mao threw the smoke bombs out and the electric sparks ignited one of the fuses. Mao Mao quickly reached up to his neck and pulled on his helmet, slashing his sword at the smoke bombs causing them to explode shrouding the arena in a thick high lair of smoke.

“Smoke bombs? That makes my job harder!” The announcer said and Mao Mao rushed towards the nearest wall and bounded up it grabbing the fence and pulling himself up to stand on a cross bar, “What’s this? Mao Mao has climbed the side of the arena!” Mao Mao lowered his helmet and shut his eyes awaiting the sound of sparks, once it was heard he had his mark. He sprung off the wall and flew into the air above the arena, he flicked his sword and ignited it’s light.

“Flowers may wither but light is eternal!” He spun around as he fell landing on his feet again and slashed his sword, the light scattering dispelling the smoke, “Lunacy!” Orchid was a few inches away standing facing the sky with his arms above his face to block. His robotic arm suddenly shifted half of it falling to the ground and Orchid fell along with it. Mao Mao rose back up and slashed his sword, dispelling the light in a flicker of flower petal like particles and sheathed his sword and cast his cape out.

_ The Orchid Withers. _

_ Light dances among the dust. _

_ The winner is clear. _

Mao Mao cleared his throat, “A haiku for the poor once blooming Orchid.” The crowd suddenly erupted in cheers.

“I DON’T BELIEVE IT! ORCHID’S 100-WIN STREAK BROKEN BY OUR MYSTERIOUS CHALLENGER! THE WINNER OF TONIGHT’S LUCKY CAT EXHIBITION IS MAO MAO!” The announcer roared among the crowd’s applause, “His total pool for his bet was 5,005,680! Which net’s our challenger a whopping 2,252,556 jewel reward!” Mao Mao flinched, he had forgotten that the winner got part of the reward, “Please come up to the spectator level Mr. Mao Mao to collect your reward!” Suddenly two cats were by Mao Mao’s side, he hadn’t heard them approach.

“This way Mr. Mao Mao.” They said in almost haunting unison and turned around and led him back the way he came.

* * *

Alec stood with his paws on the ledge in front of him, tail swishing eagerly behind him as he heard the announcer declare Mao Mao’s victory. He had seen his fist fight with the bull, and his duel with the lion, but this was nothing like that. This was thrilling, exciting, enthralling even. Alec snapped back to reality hearing the beep of the device next to his paw, he was given it when he arrived, said he could use his card to make bets he picked it up and read the screen. “A total of 15,000,000 jewel has been added to your account.” The money didn’t mean much in the long run for him or his family so he didn’t mind and took his card back, what he really wanted was to see Mao Mao in person so he ran off back into the concessions area.

Alec had seen an area marked ‘Owner Seats’ earlier and decided that would be the best place to look and sure enough he found a dazed Mao Mao shaking hands with a cat in a suit that cost more than his family had ever made. The cat walked back up the stairs behind him leaving Mao Mao standing there staring blankly into space. Alec approached slowly and Mao Mao glanced over and suddenly snapped back to reality, “Oh Alec!” He walked over to him, “Thanks-. Er uh… Hmm… I almost said ‘thanks for betting on me’ but it’s more so thank you for believing in me.” Mao Mao said quietly, he still seemed a bit distant at the moment.

“Tired from the fight?” Alec asked and Mao Mao shrugged, “Well, you were pretty cool, the way you dodged that kick all of a sudden! It seemed like it was his signature move and you countered it like it was nothing! And that final move you did, that was super cool!” Alec enthused and Mao Mao’s distant gaze brightened a bit.

“Thanks. About that kick though…” Mao Mao trailed off mumbling to himself, “How did…” He crossed his arms still looking past Alec, “Alec do you remeber my question the other day, about seeing the future.”

“Oh yeah, wait, did you,  _ see _ the future?” When Alec said that Mao Mao’s faze shifted straight to him.

“I’m…. Not…” Mao Mao wavered a bit and suddenly fell forward, Alec caught him and saw his eyes still open but they looked cloudy and blank.

“Mao Mao? Mao Mao?! H-Hey someone! Anyone! I need some help here!”

Up in the owner seats the six richest people on the islands were looking out at the empty arena, “Tch.” A wolf scoffed leaning on the arm of his chair resting his cheek in his hand, “Can’t believe Orchid lost, 99 wins and you’d think he could handle someone like that.”

“It was only natural, Alpha.” The cat said fanning themselves with a fan of bills, “He was a Mao, he could have easily bested any of the champions.”

“Ah so that’s where your interest in him stems from eh Melbourne?” Morin said with a slight laugh, “Though I’m sure he had some other driving force behind him that made him win out against someone like Orchid.” This caused a raven in one of the chairs to laugh, the one outcast in this group.

“Please old timer, not everyone’s a romantic like you are. Yo wine boy, another glass.” The raven held out his empty glass and a cat hurriedly filled it, “I could beat that punk with my eyes closed guaranteed.”

“How crass.” Alpha said, “Speaking of why are  _ you _ here instead of your brother?”

The raven rolled his eyes and twirled his glass, “Bro’s busy kicking some punk ass bitch into next week. Caught him tryin’ to steal from Racehorse. You’re welcome by the way.” He took a sip and set the glass down kicking his feet up onto the ledge in front of him, “Having us ravens do all the hard work while you live it up.”

“And your family’s hard work does not go unnoticed Cress.” Melbourne said nonchalantly tossing the money aside, “You do a good job keeping the peace on all our islands, what’s that orphanage you’re so fond of again? I’ve got some money I can throw around.” Cress groaned and stood up leaving his glass.

“Don’t need your pity old man. Just leave it to us Corsairs to keep the peace like always, my brother will hopefully be at your next gathering. Can’t stand you rich folk-.” He headed off to the stairs and Alpha stood up.

“I’ve got work to do so I’ll be taking my leave as well. I’ll cover the cost to repair Orchid’s arm, see you another time.” Alpha followed after Cress, Alpha was the one member of the owners Cress could tolerate apart from his own brother. “Honestly-.” The two of them both often showed up in place of their sibling who  _ actually _ owned the resort so Cress saw that as common ground despite their positions being so different. 

“Oh yeah Alpha, what’s a Mao?” Cress asked and the wolf smiled softly.

“Ah right you probably have no clue. The golden cat family, the Mao clan. They’re a family of heroes and adventures, the competitor today was the son of the current head of the family, Shin Mao.” Cress had heard that name before, Shin Mao, “I’m inclined to agree with Melbourne though, I don’t think any of our champions could beat a Mao.”

“Hmm yeah, that was a dirty move those smoke bombs but it was effective, Orchid tends to rely on his opponent thinking the only way to beat him is pressuring with their greater range. He used distraction and his pompous attitude to catch him off guard.” He fought like someone from his family, they tended to rely on deceit, hiding weapons in the black shadows of their feathers to catch their opponent off guard.

“H-Hey someone! Anyone! I need some help here!” Someone was shouting as they descended the stairs, not far from the stairs was a calico holding and shaking a slack black cat. Cress headed over to see what was going on, it was the competitor and that Meowzin kid who made the insane bet.

“What happened?” Cress asked and Alec stammered for a bit.

“W-well we were talking and then he suddenly collapsed- I caught him but-.” 

“Probably just an adrenaline crash.” Alpha said and walked over, “After a fight that intense he relaxed and lost all his energy. Happens all the time, what hotel are you guys staying in?”

“Oh uh- Gilded Wolf, but he came here on his own vehicle-.”

“My island huh… Well, I’ll get you two a room here just for the night, he can get some rest and you can head back in the morning.” 

“Th-thanks…” Alpha and Cress helped pull Mao Mao off Alec and carefully lifted him up, “I-I can pay for the room- I just got a ton of money…”

Alpha laughed a bit, “No worries, consider it a gift.” The wolf smiled kindly and the two set off to carry Mao Mao to a room.

* * *

Mao Mao’s senses were hazy, he couldn’t tell much of anything going on, he could feel someone's hands on him and he heard people talking but he couldn’t process any of it. Was Alec still there? Was he still in the coliseum? He couldn’t make sense of anything around him, what was happening to him? It felt like he was asleep but was still aware of everything around him, or mostly aware. His senses dulled further and he could no longer hear anyone speaking and didn’t feel anything on him. He stayed like that in that state of non-feeling when he suddenly heard someone’s voice clearly, “Sorry this is way too sudden- isn’t it.” Whose voice was that?

“N-no it’s fine.” Mao Mao responded, his vision was blurry but he could see the outline of someone looming over him.

“Well that’s good to hear Mao.” The voice belonged to Badgerclops, but the outline didn’t. His vision cleared a bit and he saw that it was Alec, “I was worried about how you’d react to something like that.” Alec, Badgerclops… Alec said with Badgerclops’ voice.

“What-?” Mao Mao said but his voice wasn’t his own anymore, he didn’t even recognize  _ whose _ voice he was now speaking with, “What are you talking about-?”

“I’m talking about-.” Alec’s voice was replaced with static, “Remember?” Mao Mao nodded.

“Yes… I do remember.” He said carefully, still not in his voice, what was happening to him?

“Well then how about we get back to-.” More static, Alec kept talking but it was just static. Everything was static, Alec, Mao Mao, the room, everything.

Mao Mao jolted awake sitting up, panting. His head was burning with a migraine, he covered his eyes shielding himself from the harsh light coming from the window, “W-window…” He said feebly.

“Oh sorry I’ll close it-.” Alec’s voice came from somewhere, Mao Mao was a bit disoriented but he recognized the voice. He heard the curtains close and the light’s turn off, Mao Mao opened his eyes to blissful darkness, “I’m glad you’re awake…” Alec said quietly.

“Yeah yeah I am too- do you have any pain killers? I have a migraine-.” He asked, laying back down on the wonderfully soft bed.

“Oh, yeah. Here I’ll get you some water.” He heard Alec walk off and then come back and grabbed Mao Mao’s hand and set a pill in it. Mao Mao sat back up and put the pill in his mouth as Alec handed him a glass of water, he drank just enough to swallow the pill and sighed.

“Th-that’ll take a bit to take effect. What happened-?” There was a bit of silence and he felt Alec sit down on the other end of the bed.

“Well uh- we’re not sure? You suddenly collapsed after the exhibition, we had a doctor examine you and they said it was exhaustion.” Exhaustion? That made no sense, Mao Mao had fought much harder than that and been fine, and that didn’t explain the migraine.

“Did I hit my head-?”

“No.” Mao Mao rolled the thought in his head for a bit when something struck him.

“Badgerclops and Adorabat- they must be-.”

“I called them. They’re on the way, they just don't have the Aerocycle so it’s taking them awhile. You just focus on resting.”

“Right…” Mao Mao pondered what could have caused this and then thought about the dream he had just a bit ago, was what he had seen a dream? “No I was awake…” He mumbled to himself, was it possible his weird dreams were bleeding into his waking life? “Exhaustion… Magical exhaustion…?” 

“Oh right, before you collapsed we were talking about if you saw the future. Can you-?”

“I’m not quite sure-. I’ve never been able to use magic but lately I’ve been having these dreams, and someone says something in the dream and then the person says what I heard in my dream in real life. It tends to be pretty vague though…” Mao Mao rubbed his temples, “Like… Badgerclops said something about black cats being bad luck in a dream and the next day he said the same thing.”

“Hmm, I’m a man of science so let’s think about it scientifically, if you can I know migraines aren’t fun-.”

“N-no I’ll be fine… I get them every so often and they clear up pretty fast. Right, science…” Mao Mao tended to leave all that to Badgerclops.

“How many times has this happened. You dream something and it happens.”

“Uh…” Mao Mao tried your recall but the migraine made it hard to think, “Counting earlier,” Mao Mao pauses, the number 9 came to mind for some reason, “Nine?” The world felt right when he associated it with the situation but why? He had only recalled this happening about four times.

“Almost ten times huh. In how many days?”

“Just these past four-.” 

“Ten instances in the past four days. Now uh, you are aware my field of expertise is mechanical engineering and not dream analysis and psychology, or anything magical right-?” Mao Mao grunted in affirmation, “Alright, so just take everything I say with a big grain of salt. Normally people tend to experience dream based Deja Vu like this if their dreams are grounded in reality, but to happen this often…” There was a knock on the door, it was Badgerclops Mao Mao recognized his knock.

“That’s Badgerclops, you can turn the light on but tell him and Adorabat to keep their voices down.” Mao Mao said and shut his eyes, a few moments later the lights were on and soft footsteps approached his bed.

“Hey Mao…” Badgerclops said quietly and knelt by his bed, “I really want to yell at you right now but I know you have a migraine.”

“Yeah I know- I was stupid for sneaking out so late-.”

“Nah man, that’s not why I’m mad. You know, if you just told us Adorabat and I would have joined you to cheer you on. You don’t gotta do everything by yourself.”

“Yeah!” Adorabat piped up, “You always tell me to rely on you guys, so you should rely on us!” Mao Mao chuckled softly having his own words turned back to him.

“... Thank you two, I don’t know what to say.” He wasn’t sure if it was the migraine making him tired or Badgerclops’s warm presence softening him up, he was vulnerable right now and he didn’t like being vulnerable.

“You  _ never _ know what to say.” Badgerclops laughed a bit and Mao Mao smiled, “I’ll let you get your rest, we can fly back when you’re feeling better.” Though, Mao Mao wasn’t quite sure whether or not he would feel better anytime soon, Badgerclops’ repeated words from the dream swimming in his head. 


	11. A Grownup Issue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's a bit on the shorter side but that's because the next chapter is going to be long, very long. So I do hope you enjoy.

Mao Mao has fallen asleep again, Badgerclops was sitting by his side fiddling with his arm, and the other cat, Alec as Badgerclops has called him was sitting off by himself, even Adorabat could feel the awkward tension. “So uh, Mr. Alec? How do you know Mao Mao?”

“Oh, we met in the elevator, we had breakfast together the other day too.” Alec said and Badgerclops stood up suddenly.

“I’m gonna get snacks, you want anything Adorabat?”

“Ooh Cheddarpaws!” And without even asking if Alec wanted anything Badgerclops left the room, Adorabat frowned and looked at the Calico, his expression hadn’t changed, “Does Badgerclops not like you? When you called us he grumbled to himself about somethin’.”

“Hmm not liking me… Yes I’d say that sounds about right.”

“Why not?” Alec just laughed and crossed his legs.

“It’s a grownup issue. You’ll understand when your older what kind of hate Badgerclops has for me.” That made no sense to Adorabat.

“Well I think you’re nice! Anyone Mao Mao likes is probably a good person!” Alec turned his head towards her and smiled.

“Thanks, you’re a good kid.” Alec pointed at her chest, “That hopeful heart of yours will do you well, never let go of that alright?” His smile didn’t waver but it felt off to Adorabat. She looked at Mao Mao still fast asleep, she’d never really seen him asleep before, he always went to bed after she did. “Does he really get migraines often?

“I dunno, Badgerclops’s known him longer…” Adorabat wondered if she’d ever know Mao Mao for as long as he and Badgerclops knew each other. As if on cue Badgerclops returned to the room holding a pile of snacks in his arm, he tossed Adorabat a bag of cheddar paws and sat back down by Mao Mao.

“Now Alec,” Badgerclops said tearing open a bag of snacks and downing it in one mouthful, “Can I ask you about last night? I want to make sure nothing bad actually happened to him.”

“Oh uh, sure? I don’t really know him that well so I wouldn’t be able to tell if something was off…” Alec shuffled awkwardly and began to talk about the fight last night.

“Wow! Mao Mao must have been so cool!” Adorabat enthused starting to fly around the room in excitement, “That attack must have been so cool!”

“Lunacy huh…” Badgerclops looked at Mao Mao pouring another thing of snacks into his mouth, “So he was distracted when you talked to him and then he collapsed… Anything he mention that could have been bugging him?”

“Um… Oh right! The kick! His opponent did this thing where he grappled the wall behind him and flew forward to kick, Mao Mao dodged it perfectly but that seemed to bug him somehow. He said he’d been having weird dreams lately and experiencing extreme and often Deja vu.”

“Dreams…?”

“Oh like that one with the monster with the king‘s voice he mentioned?” Adorabat asked and Badgerclops frowned at Mao Mao and crossed his arms, muttering to himself but Adorabat heard every word.

“You mentioned weird dreams earlier… Just what is going on with you Mao?”

* * *

_ A young black cat sat under the railing on the porch overlooking the lake kicking his feet. His father had business here today and just so decided to bring his son along only to kick him out to explore. He grew tired of the long winding halls of the mansion and chose to just stare out at the water, “Wish dad would let me see what was going on. Didn’t even tell me what we were doing…” He sighed and put a paw against the oversized scabbard next to him, his one comfort, the katana his father gave him. _

_ “U-um…” A meek voice spoke up from behind him, he looked over his shoulder to see a young wolf cub, around his age, standing in the door frame, “H-hello…” _

_ “Hi!” The cat brightened and stood up quickly approaching the wolf, “Who are you?” _

_ “O-Oh I’m-.” The wolf cub’s voice faded out and was replaced with static, “Are you that big cat’s kid?” _

_ “Yup! I’m Mao Mao! Son of the legendary Shin Mao! I’m gonna be a hero just like him some day!” Mao Mao laughed and the wolf cub smiled a bit. _

_ “N-nice to meet you. Hey Mao Mao, can I tell you a secret?” _

_ “Huh? Well of course you can, heroes are the best at keeping secrets!” The wolf brightened with Mao Mao’s information and beckoned him closer and whispered in his ear... _

Mao Mao woke up with a fuzzy feeling in his head, like he was on the verge of remembering something important, he opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling “Hey Mao, how ya feeling?” Badgerclops asked, Mao Mao wanted to answer ‘weird’ but he just shrugged.

“My migraine is mostly cleared up,” That or those painkillers were  _ really _ effective, “Ah, where’s Alec-?”

Badgerclops pointed to a couch against the wall where the calico lay fast asleep, “Seems he stayed up most all of the night worrying about you, so once we were settled he passed right out.”

“Ah I see, Adorabat?”

“She wanted to get you some Cheddar Paws for when you woke up, we got snacks but...”

“You ate them all, not surprised.” Mao Mao laughed a bit, the familiarity of this exchange settling on him, “What time is it?” Badgerclops shrugged, was there not a clock in the room he could look at? Speaking of, now that Mao Mao was more aware he realized that this room was incredibly lavish, almost as much as their own room however it was just a single room with a single bed, he lifted a hand the mark it made in the bed remaining for a long time afterwards.

“So what are you feeling Mao?” The question caught Mao Mao off guard.

“H-huh?” 

“Like, are you up for doing stuff today or do you just wanna go back to the room?” Right, that’s what he meant, of course.

“I think I’ll be fine doing stuff, nothing too intensive though.”

“Well in that case, that weapons of the world exhibit you wanted to see is open tonight, we can go do that if you want.”

“Ah really?” Mao Mao brightened at the idea, “Let’s go once Adorabat get’s back. Ah wait, what about Alec?”

“What about him? He’s an adult, he can get home on his own.” Mao Mao frowned, he know Badgerclops wasn’t the most polite person but the way he said that felt, wrong.

“A hero always pays back his debts Badgerclops, and I owe him for helping me out.”

“I’d think that 15 million jewel he won last night is more than enough payment, leave him a note. You two keep running into each other, he knows our room number, you can get in touch with him again.” 

“Did Alec  _ say _ something to you while I was out? You’re acting really weird-.” 

Badgerclops sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, “Sorry, maybe I’m just irritable cuz I was worried. I don’t know Alec and hearing that you passed out and were alone with a practical stranger- I just got worried is all, we’re friends dude.” Something about that statement felt off to Mao Mao but he mentally filed it away for later alongside the million other questions he had for his partner.

“Right, sorry, I think I’m still just a bit tired, we shouldn’t be fighting like this…” Suddenly the door burst open and Adorabat flew in, snacks in tow.

“I’m back! Ah Mao Mao!” She dropped the snacks which Badgerclops caught with expert timing as she rushed over to the cat, “You’re awake! Are you alright?”

“Yes I’m fine Adorabat, just pushed myself a bit too hard.” He pat her on the head, “Now c’mon, I’m going to leave a note for Alec and then we’re going to go see the weapons of the world exhibit.”

* * *

The exhibit was back on Gilded Wolf so they headed back to their hotel. It was held in one of the many ballrooms the hotel had on the first floor, the room was laid out with display cases and placards and everyone was mostly standing around drinking, “Seems like you’re the only one here to actually look at the weapons…” Badgerclops commented and Mao Mao nodded.

“No matter, just means no wait to see most things. Oh look at that!” Mao Mao rushed over to a standing case which contained a pole arm of some sort, “This is a halberd with a full scythe head! They tend to be made just with the spear and axe as the weight of the scythe messes up the balance and makes them incredibly impractical to use.”

“Certainly looks impractical…” Badgerclops knew nothing about weapons but even he could tell the weapon looked cumbersome with the heavy axe on one side and the scythe on the other.

“Do they have any katana’s like yours Mao Mao?” Mao Mao laughed.

“There’s not a sword like Geraldine any where in the world! But they probably do have some katana somewhere, this is a well put together exhibit.”

“Ah I’m glad to hear that.” A quiet voice suddenly spoke up and they turned their attention to the source, there was a mouse standing by the display case, had he been there long? “Oh yes I should introduce myself first, my name is Iris Dunes, I’m the curator of this exhibit.” 

“I’m Mao Mao, this is Badgerclops,” he waved, “And Adorabat.”

“Nice to meet you! But, what’s a curator?”

“I’m the person who put this exhibit together, every weapon here was hand selected and hand maintained by myself.” Iris said with a proud smile, “I’m quite grateful for Ms. Wolfburg for allowing me to host this.” 

“You’ve certainly put a lot of care into this exhibit. Any personal favorites among the collection?” Mao Mao asked and the mouse nodded and gestures for them to follow.

As they walked Iris and Mao Mao discussed all the kinda of weapons they passed when a thought struck Badgerclops, “Iris is kind of a weird name for a guy…” He muttered to himself.

“Yes,” Iris said, “I suppose it is a bit odd, but my dear friend gave me this name so I’ll treasure it.” He had heard him? 

“Your friend gave you that name?” Adorabat asked and Iris laughed to himself.

“Pay it no mind. Ah here we are.” He stopped in front of a display case which had a much bigger crowd than anywhere else in the room, in the case was a set of knives laid out like a fan on a pedestal, “My favorite piece, as well as my own personal weapon, Blühende Maus.” 

“Whoa, these are impressive!” Mao Mao said leaning in, “These were made by a master for sure… Huh-?” 

“Is something wrong?”

“Oh, no nothings wrong…” Mao Mao said, Badgerclops tolled his eyes, definitely something wrong, “Badgerclops don’t you want a closer look?” Mao Mao stepped aside.

“Uh, sure?” He got closer to the case a leaned in, the knives themselves were an emerald green with a golden hilt. Nothing too out of the ordinary, until he saw what had bothered Mao Mao, etched into the middle of the blade was the same insignia the lion from the other day’s spear had, the character from a foreign language surrounded by a diamond with snakes curling around the edges of it. He gave Mao Mao a look, he seemed lost in thought.

“Wow they’re so pretty! Like flowers!” Adorabat commented and Badgerclops backed up. 

“They are quite nice, thank you for showing us Iris, we’re going to go wander around on our own some more, we’ll come find you if we have any questions.” Mao Mao said and Iris clasped his hands together.

“Oh please do! I’ll be around all day if you need me.” He had a big smile as they walked away and once they were out of earshot Mao Mao sighed.

“So you saw it too, right? The insignia?” Badgerclops asked and Mao Mao nodded.

“Though that doesn’t quite mean anything. Could very well be the weapons are made by the same smith and it’s just their personal branding… Though it could mean much more than that too.” Mao Mao seemed perplexed by this.

“What insignia?” Adorabat asked, before Badgerclops could answer he caught a glance from Mao Mao, he clearly wanted to keep it a secret from her.

“It’s a grownup issue, don’t worry about it.” Mao Mao said dismissing the topic, “Now c’mon there’s still more here I want to see.” 

“Okay!” Mao Mao headed off to the next display and Adorabat flew after him leaving Badgerclops behind he crossed his arms and glanced back at the knives’ display at Iris.

“Hope you know what you’re doing Mao Mao…”

* * *

Iris hummed to himself undoing his tie as the elevator rose, the elevator reached it’s stop but the doors didn’t open, Iris went over to the panel and hit the buttons in a certain order causing them to open, he stepped out of the elevator and into his group’s ‘office floor’ stretching, “I’m back everyone!” He called out and got no response as usual, the large space was empty as usual, a luxurious lounge with a fully stocked bar, comfortable couches, and an almost literal home theater; it was an extravagance for just the four of them.

“Iris.” Cosmos said in his usual dull tone, he was crouched down by the bar picking up shards of glass.

“Rose break another glass?” Cosmos shook his head, “Oh then it was Violet?” Another head shake, “Eh-? Then… you? We don’t exactly have anyone else to break them-.”

“About that.” Rose came out from around the corner, dressed in his usual nightgown, “We have a new hire, they got a bit excited and broke that old chess set.” He said and a squirrel came out from behind him, they were about the same height as Iris and had two swords hanging from their waist, “This is Nightingale, they’ll be working with us from now on. Nightingale bowed politely.

“It will be my pleasure to assist you, Masters Rose, Cosmos, Iris.” 

“That’s great and all boss but why are you introducing them to just us, where’s Violet?” The wolf sighed and shrugged.

“Off attending to that pet project of hers.” Iris nodded and pulled a knife from his sleeve.

“I see, hey Rose you know who I saw today?” He raised his arm and threw the knife with sheer precision, striking a dart board on the other end of the room straight in the bullseye, “Mao Mao.” 

“Oh really now? Hear anything interesting?” Rose asked and Iris shook his head.

“Nope, nothing more than speculation about my ‘potential’ connection to Cosmos.” With that Nightingale raised their hand like a school kid wanting to ask a question.

“If I may inquire, what is the situation regarding this ‘Mao Mao’? What sparked such a strong vendetta?” Iris sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth, what made their team unique is no one knew any one's past, to them the past was the past and all that mattered was now, hence why they were given new names upon joining. Though Rose’s past was quite obvious no one talked about it.

“Rose doesn’t-.” The wolf held up a paw and sat on a bar-stool, Cosmos immediately stood up and got behind the bar pulling a glass from under the counter and setting it down in front of Rose and got a bottle of wine from the case and poured it with his same jerky efficiency. 

“It’s such an old story but, I suppose I can indulge you, just for tonight.” He picked up the glass and swirled it taking a sip, “Now gather round Iris, Nightingale, and allow me to regale you with the story of the summer I spent with the man named Mao Mao Mao.”


	12. Corsair Ravens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! It's been, a bit. I took a break from writing for a while and works been awful hectic so I haven't had much time to write. Now first thing you may notice is, this isn't the chapter I said would be next. That one is still coming, it's actually going to be chapter 14. When I took a step back I realized I totally mistimed when I needed to do a couple of things and had to restructure stuff a bit, so instead of Rose telling the story you'll get to see Mao Mao tell it. This chapter's also fairly short so maybe hopefully I can get the next chapter out before the end of the year. Hope you enjoy!

After the weapons exhibit the sheriff’s department had dinner at one of the lighter restaurants on Badgerclop’s list before they went back to their room. They ate in mostly silence as Mao Mao was still tired and Badgerclops couldn’t find anything to say, instead he was content watching Mao Mao eat quietly. The cat’s normal methodical eating was slower than usual, “Hey Mao…” 

“Hmm?” the cat looked up from his food, his eyes still looked distant as they did when he had just woken up.

“You feeling alright? Sure you’re not pushing yourself?” Mao Mao rolled his eyes and sighed.

“Yes I’m fine, as I’ve said for the hundredth time. I understand you’re concerned but it’s gonna take more than that to keep down a legendary hero such as myself.” Badgerclops had known Mao Mao long enough to know that it was just sheer bravado. Badgerclops just nodded and let his eye wander as he continued to eat when something caught his eye. There was a group of ravens talking to the host, one of whom was adorned rather fancily, like a pirate captain with a flowing crimson coat.

“I gotta use the bathroom.” Badgerclops stood up suddenly and headed over to the entrance of the restaurant heading out and past the wall but keeping within earshot.

“Everything’s all set for our game tomorrow night correct?” One of them spoke, though Badgerclops couldn’t tell which, “We’ve been getting run rampant, what with one of those Florists causing a scene the other night, that Meowzin heir being here… They’re stretching us Corsairs thin.”

“Quit your squawking.” Badgerclops flinched, he knew that voice, “we owe a debt to Mr. Luckii so us Corsairs are going to repay it.”

“S-sorry capin’.” The first one said again, “Are you sure you don’t want to join us? You work the hardest out of all of us.”

“It’s not a problem for me, my brothers and I have a duty to protect the peace on these islands, and as captain I need to give my crew the rest they deserve. You can have your fun without worry. Now then, make sure all the ‘wine’ we requested gets delivered to the fifth casino floor of Lucky Cat before 10 PM tomorrow.”

“Of course, Captain Wes.”

_ “Hey Wes wait up!”  _ Badgerclops shuddered and looked away from the entrance as he heard people walk past him, he turned back and saw the three ravens walking away. 

“So you’re still here Wes… I was hoping you’d moved on but,” he sighed, “Looks like Mao’s not going to be only one hiding something.” He shook his head and killed some time before heading back in, and to the table.

The three finished eating and headed back towards the lobby, Adorabat had fallen asleep again and Badgerclops was carrying her, “Must have exhausted herself fretting over me…” Mao Mao said as they got into the elevator.

“You’re no better man, you look awful, no offense.” Badgerclops said and Mao Mao peeked at himself in the reflective wall, “You should get some more sleep, and some more water, you could be dehydrated.”

Mao Mao chuckled softly and leaned against Badgerclops and he tensed up, “Who’d have struck you as the super caring type.” 

“Well yeah, we’ve been friends for like, ever. Of course I’m worried.” He sighed trying to relax, hoping Mao Mao wouldn’t notice, “Just, promise me you’ll take care of yourself, even when we get home.”

“Alright.” He yawned, settling against Badgerclops some more, “Say, can we go back to Highlight Racehorse tomorrow?”

“What for?”

“Something caught my eye, I wanted to check it out…” Mao Mao sounded like he was considering something intensely, “if not I can go on my own.”

“No no, I’ll go with you, we both will. We’re your deputies after all.” Mao Mao laughed again and was quiet, after a bit he started softly snoring, “Yeesh, fell asleep standing up…” Badgerclops picked him, he was always fairly light, which made him easy to carry, especially with one arm. He shuffled about trying to get him into a position he assumed would be comfortable for him, he rested his head on his shoulder so their faces were close. He then thought about Wes again, he put weird emphasis on the word ‘wine’ he always did, which meant it wasn’t actually wine, it was something else. “He can’t still be scheming after all these years…” 

Badgerclops took the remainder of the elevator ride in silence up to the floor of their room and brought his two sleeping friends back, carefully setting Adorabet in her bed and brought Mao Mao back to the master bedroom. Badgerclops hadn’t spent much time in here as it was Mao Mao’s, it was awfully luxurious for one person, beds that big were meant to be shared. He set Mao Mao down when he noticed a card on it with a logo emblazoned on it, Badgerclops recognized it immediately, the logo of the Corsair Ravens. “What do they want with Mao?” He picked it up and flipped it over to read it.

_ To the illustrious Mao clansmen, _

_ Quit stepping on our toes, we’re island security around here not you. Your help has been appreciated but you should focus simply on enjoying your stay _

_ Helmsman of the Corsair Ravens, _

_ Cress _

Why were the Corsairs threatening Mao Mao? “Dang it Mao, this is why I need you to tell me stuff.” As though he was any better, “Cress huh? That’s Wes’s little brother, so he’s my replacement huh… Damn it Wes… Guess I’m still cleaning up after you.”

* * *

The next morning the three were up in the rooftop lounge of Highlight Racehorse again. Badgerclops yawned, “Did we really have to come out here so early?”

“Of course! It’s not too hot, the sun’s out, and no one else is here, that makes it the perfect time to investigate.” Mao Mao and Adorabat were already scouring the area, he had told them what they were looking for on the ride over, though Badgerclops couldn’t understand it, they were told to find anything ‘weird’.

“Oh over here!” Adorabat called and Mao Mao headed over to her position, she was hovering above the beds of the flowers, most of them were crushed due to the fight but there were certain ones spared, almost intentionally.

“Ah good eye Adorabat, this certainly counts as weird.” Mao Mao pulled out a notepad and started to write, “Hmm, roses, irises, cosmos…” Mao Mao nodded to himself.

“How do you know what kind of flowers they are?” Adorabat asked and Mao Mao shrugged.

“Just do, I grow bonsai back home, remember? Flower arranging is another art of zen I studied.” Mao Mao said, “Why do you think only these flowers aren’t crushed… They’re by no means resilient plants.” It was a rhetorical question, more of Mao Mao’s pondering.

“You said something caught your eye right? Was this it?” Mao Mao shook his head and didn’t say anything else and went back to searching, “Right-.” Badgerclops sighed and set about searching as well, though he had no idea what he was even looking for.

No one else found anything for sometime as they searched the roof in silence, “Oh,” a sudden voice broke the silence, “I wasn’t aware anyone was up here…” Badgerclops turned his attention to see a wolf standing at the lounge entrance, he was dressed in overalls, with big gloves and boots as well as a sunhat. He had a large bucket filled with various tools and a dolly with packs of flower starters on it.

“Who are you?” 

“Oh, I’m the Gardener for the Lucky Cat Casinos and Resorts, though I’m really just a florist. I heard there was a mess up here and I needed to fix the flower beds.” Florist? Didn’t the Corsairs from yesterday mention florists?

“All by yourself?” Adorabat asked and the wolf laughed.

“Well mostly, yes.” He wheeled in his supplies to the center, “It’s my job to maintain all the flower gardens around all the islands.”

“That must be hard work.” Mao Mao said, “Would you like a hand? It was our fault this garden got messed up.” 

“Yeah haha, we were here when the fight broke out and we rushed across the flowers in our efforts to escape.” Badgerclops laughed suddenly shooting Mao Mao a glare.

The wolf put his hands up and shook his head, “No no it’s fine, it was already time to change out this garden anyways, plus I must be interrupting as well… What exactly are you three doing here?”

“We’re looking for something, I dropped it and didn’t know it was missing until now.” Mao Mao said, “We won’t get in your way so you can go ahead.” The three vacated the center area and the gardener smiled.

“Why thank you. I hope you find what you lost.” He said cheerfully and set about his work, Mao Mao and Badgerclops exchanged another glance before going back to their search. Badgerclops however kept an eye on the florist, something felt off about the wolf and Badgerclops was cautious of him. He didn’t recognize any of the flowers he was planting, he only knew simple stuff like roses and sunflowers, so he couldn’t tell if they meant anything ‘weird’. A sudden glint caught Badgerclops’s eye and he bent down and picked it up, it was a key card, “Hey Mao!”

“Hmm?” Mao Mao looked towards Badgerclops and headed over to him, “Aha! That’s it.” Mao Mao took the key card and examined it, “Yes that’s it alright. Nice work Badgerclops!” He quickly tucked the card into his sash and started towards the exit, “Come along Adorabat!” He called and Badgerclops followed him.

“What is it-?” Badgerclops asked and Mao Mao didn’t answer, “Dude…”

“Don’t worry about it Badgerclops, it’s nothing all that important.” It clearly was if Mao Mao wanted to find it and then not tell him what it was, “Look,” he said lowering his voice, “Just, trust me okay? I promise I’ll tell you everything once I actually  _ know  _ what’s going on, alright? Partner?”

“Alright, if you insist, I’ll trust you, but if you’re doing anything dangerous let me know.” He demanded and the cat nodded as Adorabat finally joined them.

“Alright, Badgerclops does that list have any restaurants on this island? I want a nice solid breakfast today.”

After spending the rest of the day exploring Highlight Racehorse the group returned to their room. Mao Mao headed straight to his room to retrieve Geraldine so he could get some practice in, however he instead dug around in his sash for the keycard from earlier. Mao Mao looked over the card, it was pitch black, with a golden menagerie of animals painted on it. “Why would an assailant have something like this…” He recognized the card, the cat who showed him to the coliseum had one, it was an employee key card. This called for some investigation, but he had to be discreet about it, Badgerclops was already on his case and Mao Mao felt something dangerous about all this and didn’t want to involve him. His chest ached from the anticipation of his friends disapproval, but this was something head to do on his own. “Then there’s that…” He sighed and shook his head, the feeling was stupid, despite how warm he felt knowing that Badgerclops worried about him was tiring. 

His train of thought was cut off by a knock at the door, “Yo Mao.” The one person Mao Mao  _ didn’t _ want to talk to, he tucked the keycard back into his sash and turned around.

“You can come in.” He answered and Badgerclops came inside the room shutting it behind him, “Did you need something?”

“Yeah… You know how I used to run with a gang of thieves?” Mao Mao nodded, not wanting to interrupt, “Well, hmm, I need your help with something.”

“Sure, what is it?” Mao Mao asked, Badgerclops looked like he was trying to find the right words for this. He knew Badgerclops didn’t like talking about his time on the other side of the law.

“It’s something only you can do…” Badgerclops paused and looked towards the window, “I need you to sneak into the Lucky Cat hotel.”


	13. Raven's Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need to preface this chapter with something. I'm not the best at setting things up because I tend to get new ideas or change my mind a lot as I write so I don't like to set things in stone if I change my mind about something later. However the only thing that remains the same is the overall plot, how it goes from start to end can change a lot as I write it but the overall timeline stays the same, this chapter is a bit of the precursor to the rest of the story, setting the tone from now until the climax, beyond is going to be a lot softer and happier. This is the story I've wanted to tell from the start and I'm going to, I understand if that turns some people off from it but for those who stay I hope you enjoy the story. 
> 
> That being said I'm putting a trigger warning for violence and minor character death this chapter, if you don't want to read that skip to the last page break after Tab shows up.

Mao Mao was taken aback by the sudden request, unaware if he had actually heard him correct, “You uh, you what?”

“I need you to sneak into Lucky Cat,” Badgerclops affirmed, “Look I know what it looks like but- I’ll tell you what this is about afterwards. I just need to make sure of something.” 

“Badgerclops you’re-.” Doing the exact same thing he was doing, except he was actually counting on Mao Mao to help instead of running off on his own, Mao Mao bit the inside of his cheek and looked away, “Are you sure you want me to help with this? You know what’s going on and I don’t.”

“Yeah, you’re the only one who can do this, I wouldn’t have asked if it was something I could do myself.” Was Mao Mao’s investigating something he could do himself? Though that was always the difference between them, Badgerclops usually always worked with people, Mao Mao had been alone for so long he was still getting used to asking for help. “Right?” Mao Mao flinched, evidently Badgerclops had said something and he didn’t catch it, when he looked back Badgerclops had leaned down to be much closer.

“R-right… Can you at least tell me your plan before we do anything ridiculous?.” He took a step back distancing himself from Badgerclops’s face. 

“My plan’s pretty simple, I need you to sneak in and disguise yourself as an employee, you’re a cat too so they probably won’t notice if you’re in uniform. Then head up to the fifth casino floor and get some information from a table there. I don’t know which one but it should be obvious, they’ll all be corvids.” 

Easy enough for Mao Mao, “Right, but what info do I need, and what will you be doing?” 

“I have some… Other business to attend to.” Badgerclops said, his face giving away nothing, “Listen for anything that sounds suspicious, you’re a hero you can pick that out easy enough right?” Mao Mao nodded.

“Sure but, why do we even need to sneak in? Can’t we just call Alec and have him get us a reservation at Cat’s Crown? Then we wouldn’t need this plan, plus I was asked to fight there, people know me.” Mao Mao asked and Badgerclops grimaced.

“I thought about that, but if we were going to the restaurant, the elevator has a clearly labeled button, I saw it the other day. We couldn’t pretend to be lost if we had a clear destination.” Badgerclops explained, “As for that, you’re a black cat with a deep voice, in the right uniform and without your sword I don’t think anyone would be able to tell it was you.” Badgerclops had clearly put a lot of thought into all this, Mao Mao felt a pang of guilt from hiding his own plans. Mao Mao finally agreed to the plan, silently swearing to make it up to Badgerclops for trusting him.

The two conjured up a half baked lie for Adorabat and headed off to Lucky Cat. After parking they headed towards the building but didn’t go inside, instead scouting around the perimeter for any other entrances. They came across a door with a keycard scanner next to it, “Right, I believe this is a maintenance entrance. Give me a minute to…” Badgerclops started to reach to it with his mechanical arm and Mao Mao grabbed it stopping him.

“Here let me.” He reached into his sash and pulled out the keycard from earlier and swiped it, there was a pleasant beep and the door opened.

“So that’s what it was…” Badgerclops said and nodded, he produced something from his arm and handed it to Mao Mao, it looked like a simple black stud , “Put this in your ear, it’s a transceiver, it transmits anything it hears directly back to my arm, and I can talk to you with it.”

Mao Mao nodded and put it on hearing it crackle with static in his ear, he undid his cape and handed it to Badgerclops, “I’ll let you know when I’m in and disguised.”

“Gotcha, I’ll still be on the island if you need me. Just, be careful okay Mao?” Badgerclops gave him a soft smile and Mao Mao felt his face warm.

“Pssh, I’m always careful.” He scoffed trying to force all his confidence out and backed into the closing door slipping in and gave a thumbs up to his partner before slipping off into the dark corridor.

* * *

Mao Mao ran through the maintenance corridor not encountering anyone, seems no one headed back here much or they were all working elsewhere, either way it made for an easy infiltration. Mao Mao found his way to a more populated section, seeming to be a general back area for employees, all of course were cats. A door off to the side made Mao Mao think it was a break room judging by the faint hum of chatter and TV’s. Mao Mao crept into the shadows along the wall to keep out of sight and perked his ears up trying to catch any conversation. Most of it was all just complaints about customers, “Yeesh, that guest in room 2765 has been drunk every single day they’ve been here. I’m tired of cleaning the same gross mess every day.” Evidently everyone here appeared to be custodial staff, did every department of workers have a different back room?

“At least you’re not the wait staff, the Corsairs are having their monthly poker tournament again.” One said, that must be what Badgerclops was looking for. Mao Mao shifted closer to hear more, “Two of those guys kept hitting on Jean, even followed her back to her quarters, seems those Florists had to take care of it.” 

“Ouch that’s rough, you know who’s dealing up there today?” 

“Uh… I think Dean and his crew. Wanna stop by the fourth floor and wish them our condolences?” The fourth floor! Mao Mao’s best chance of getting to eavesdrop was as a waiter or a dealer and he knew where to go, he had seen an elevator back in the maintenance corridor must have been for transporting heavy equipment he could take that to the top. There was a sudden clatter of metal hitting something, “The hell was that?” Mao Mao backed into the corner hoping they wouldn’t check there.

“Sounded like a grate dropping? Must be cleaning the vents today.” The two didn't seem to be bothered by it and headed off, Mao Mao took the chance to sneak back to the elevator. Once again there was a card reader and Mao Mao swiped the key card for the same pleasant ding.

“Lot’s of security systems here. Which makes me wonder how that lion got one of these…” Mao Mao pondered aloud while he waited for the elevator to open. The rickety iron grate doors opened once the platform lowered and Mao Mao stepped onto it. There was a panel on the back wall with the floors, he hit the ‘4’ button and the rickety doors slid closed again and it started to rise. He idly reached for where he usually kept Geraldine, missing her presence, “Badgerclops are you there?” He asked and waited for a response

There was a crackle of static in his ear, “Yeah,  _ -kzzt-  _ what’s up?”

“Not much, I’m going to steal a dealer’s uniform, on the fourth floor, then head up to the fifth. Just thought, I’d check in…” Mao Mao had really wanted to just hear him again, unarmed and sneaking about wasn’t his usual style, made him feel vulnerable.

“Alright, the game starts in an hour so you have time, don’t rush and endanger the mission.” Badgerclops said, “Alright I’m gonna get back to my own side of the work.”

“Copy, I’ll check in again when I’m ready.” Mao Mao said and there was more static and then just silence and the sound of the elevator as it ascended. 

The elevator soon arrived at the fourth floor opening up, the surrounding area was empty as the first floor, not even a single person to make sure things were running smoothly? “Hey!” Apparently not, Mao Mao flinched, a cat came up to the elevator seemingly out of nowhere, “What are you doing here?”

“Uh I was uh- I’m a new hire!” Mao Mao lied, “I was told to report to Dean and got a bit lost, hehe.” Mao Mao tried to play it cool as the cat glared at him.

“Oh if that’s all then you got to the right floor, not sure what you were doing in the maintenance hall… Right, follow me.” The cat headed off down the corridor and beckoned for Mao Mao to follow him which he readily did so. Mao Mao followed him into what looked like another break area, he looked around for a bit, “Ah there, hey Dean!” He called out and a tall tortoiseshell cat turned his attention and headed over. “This is a new hire, got lost.”

“Eh? A new hire? Were we getting someone new…? Well either way, your timing is appreciated, Marco called in sick so we’re down a dealer.” Mao Mao sighed internally, how convenient for him, “Hmm look like a small, c’mon let’s get you a uniform it’s almost time.”

“Right!” Mao Mao followed him, thanking the cat who led him here. Dean led him into what looked like an office. He headed up to a cabinet and opened it up, it was full of stacks of clothing, neatly folded and sorted by size.

“Right a new suit for you… What’s your name?” Shoot, he couldn’t use his real name but didn’t have any fake names ready anymore.

_ “My Gladiolus!”  _

“Huh-?” Who said that? The voice felt like it was right next to his ear but it was distinctly not Badgerclops.

Dean scoffed, “Were you spacing out? I asked your name.”

“O-oh sorry. It’s... Gladiolus.” Mao Mao said as Dean handed him a stack.

“Hmm, odd name. Right then Gladiolus, there’s a changing room across the hall, go get changed and meet me back here. You’re already trained right?”

“Pssh, would I apply to work at the illustrious Lucky Cat if I didn’t already know how to deal cards?” Mao Mao asked, he’d seen plenty of dealers in his time so he knew how to properly do things for most games, Dean let out a hearty laugh.

“ _ That’s _ the spirit. Why can’t all the newbies be like you. Right well let’s get on with it, we’ve got a long night ahead of us.”

Mao Mao looked over his appearance in the changing room mirror, it wasn’t a bad outfit. A black dress shirt and a silver pinstripe vest, white silk gloves, a black bowtie, and simple black slacks. He much preferred his normal attire but this wasn’t a bad disguise by any means, he kept his sash on under his shirt in case he needed it. He headed out of the changing room and met up with Dean again, “Looks good on you, c’mon, we’ll walk and talk.” He started down the hall and Mao Mao followed him, “It’s a rough first day for you, the annual poker tournament held by the Corsair Ravens is tonight, though all you have to do is deal the cards. Everything else is up to the waiters.” He sounded rather serious when he said that, “Some of them can be fairly crass, if any are too rough on you let me know I’ll make sure they’re given hell for it.” Dean looked back at Mao Mao and smiled, he nodded back and the two stopped at an elevator, “This elevator will bring you right to the floor, you’re at table 27, closest to the elevator and the game of tonight is Texas hold ‘em. Good luck out there.” Dean swiped his own keycard and the elevator opened.

“What about you?”

“I have other preparations to run for the game, you’ll be fine.” Dean hit the button in the elevator for Mao Mao and stepped out, giving him a polite wave as the doors shut. 

“Everything that guy said was a red flag, I guess I don’t need to do an actual report since Badgerclops is getting all this anyways…” Mao Mao stood in silence as the elevator rose, “Hey, can you tell me what this is about yet?” No response. He asked again, and Badgerclops didn’t respond, “He did say he had his own stuff to do… Guess I’m flying solo.” Just like he wanted, to work alone without Badgerclops. Mao Mao shook his head and sighed, bracing himself as he felt the elevator stop. The doors opened and he stepped outside looking around, there were numerous tables around the floor all with cats at them, as well as others running around carrying trays of wine glasses filled with a red wine of some kind. Mao Mao found the table closest to the elevator unoccupied and stood in the dealers spot. A waiter ran up to the table soon after he got there.

“Hello!” The waiter was as bright and cheerful as his fur, “Finally the last dealer is here, all the corsairs are antsy to be let in.” He set down the glasses on his tray, one per chair at the table, “I’m Tab! Your table's waiter.”

“Tab the tabby?” Mao Mao asked and Tab giggled.

“You got it! I’ll go tell the bossman we’re already!” Tab rushed off leaving Mao Mao alone, he wrinkled his nose, he could smell the wine from where he was and it smelled off, he wasn’t one for wine but even he knew something was wrong with that scent. He had a bad feeling about this, a very bad feeling.

* * *

The room filled up quickly with four ravens at every table, the four at Mao Mao’s table were particularly chatty, “And then Cress slammed the poor guy’s head onto the counter!” The ravens laughed loudly at that for whatever reason, “Man the helmsman’s such a bamf, even more so than the captain.”

“Yo don’t let the captain here you say that, you know how he gets when compared to his little bro.” The ravens laughed  _ again _ and Mao Mao rolled his eyes, shuffling the card deck idly while he waited, apparently there was going to be a big toast before they all began. The sudden sound of metal clinking against glass rose and Mao Mao looked at its source, a raven, dressed in much less fancy wear than the rest stood up.

“Attention lads, lassies, and those of you who are neither. As you all know I’m your Helmsman Cress.” A raucous applause rose among the ravens as they cheered, he clinked his glass again and they settled down, “We’ve been working hard for these past few months, and now we have a chance to relax and let loose!” He raised his glass higher and all the ravens did the same, “Now then let’s enjoy this Ravens’ Game!” He raised his glass higher in a toasting motion.

“ **Ravens’ Game!!!** ” They all cheered and began to down their wine, except for Cress, who flinched when he brought it close to his beak.

“Huh?” Mao Mao watched curiously as Cress looked at his glass rather than drink it like the rest so eagerly did. Then Mao Mao’s bad feeling came horribly true, all the ravens at his table dropped their glasses and they shattered on the ground, all the other ravens did the same, collapsing onto the floor or their tables. All the waiters looked around in panic as did most of the dealers, Cress looked in horror jumping off his chair and crouching down by a collapsed Corsair. Then things got worse, something shot through the air piercing Cress’s chest and he collapsed to the ground in a terrible heap, but when Mao Mao blinked it hadn’t happened, “Again… Wait, Cress!” Mao Mao leapt over his table and rushed Cress who looked up just before Mao Mao talked him out of the way as gunshots rang out.

“Did Dean let one of them in on it? They were all supposed to be clueless collateral.” A gruff voice grumbled, Mao Mao and Cress looked at the source, a hooded figure and a veritable army of wolves, “Well doesn’t matter if one knew, the helmsman and the dealer are hopelessly outmatched and outnumbered. Kill them all.” He ordered and snapped his fingers, the wolves running in weapons ready. 

“What the hell’s happening-.” Cress said pushing Mao Mao off of him and standing up, “You, you’re that Mao guy…” Mao Mao stood up and looked around, most of the waiters and dealers had fled, a few had joined the ravens on the ground, Cress swore more colorfully as they were surrounded, “You’re not hurt?”

“No-.” Mao Mao said and Cress drew his cutlass from his waist and gave it to Mao Mao, “But don’t-.”

“I don’t need anything other than my talons and ‘feathers’. Let’s clear a path out of here!” Cress roared and rushed forward talking two wolves to the ground and springing up, being pursued by three more. The remaining ones surround Mao Mao who tested the cutlass by moving his wrist, it was lighter and shorter than Mao Mao liked it but it would work. He shifted into a fighting stance, and waited for an opening. The first wolf moved forward and Mao Mao lunged in driving the hilt of the cutlass into his stomach and slipped under him. Dodging the broken glass along the floor Mao Mao ran, his easiest escape would be one of the windows, but he had none of his supplies and didn’t know if Badgerclops had the aerocycle, could Cress fly? The two could escape together if he could. He really rather not fight this many people if he was alone, he searched around for Cress and found him surrounded by a circle of knocked down wolves.

“Cress! We should stick together!” Mao Mao called out and rushed towards him, a wolf getting in his way but Cress sprang forward and knocked the wolf down in a single kick.

“Agreed- these guys are no slouches.” Now that they were closer again Mao Mao could tell Cress’s wings were dripping with blood, but he couldn’t tell if it was his own or from the wolves. Mao Mao parried a wolf who rushed in and knocked him back.

“Who even- hnnf.” He blocked another attack and backed away, “Are they!”

“Mercenaries, they’re Moon Wolf Guild, I believe Ms. Chairman has become dissatisfied with our Corsairs.” A wolf with a spear stabbed at Cress who sidestepped and gripped him and flipped him over, “Mao!” As he swung the wolf Down Mao Mao struck him with his hilt on the way down and Cress tossed him aside. “Say, you wouldn’t happen to have any backup you can call- all mine just died.” Cress flicked blood from his wings keeping ready for any of the mercenaries who tried to approach.

“I do he’s just not answering- damn it Badgerclops…” Mao Mao grumbled parrying another wolf and bobbing to the side for Cress to roundhouse him to the ground. 

Slowly but surely the two were backed against the floor to ceiling window, they were cornered and there were still too many wolves to break through, “Tch they say a captain goes down with this ship not the helmsman…” Cress groaned looking around desperately for a way out. 

“This isn’t a legendary way to die either…” Mao Mao said, still holding the cutlass at the ready, clinging to their last bit of hope.

“Put your weapons down and we’ll give you an honorable send off.” One of the wolves laughed.

“Bite me!” Cress barked and before the wolf could react a surge of shattered glass rained down on them, they scattered away and a figure rolled into the casino, they rose quickly flicking their sword out, Mao Mao was drawn to how beautiful the sword was, a silver broadsword with crimson roses engraved along the blade, One of the mercenaries rushed in and the mysterious intruded thrust his blade forward. Mao Mao recoiled in disgust looking away as the blade ripped straight through their armor and they fell to the ground. 

“Go.” The figure said.

“What-?”

“GO!” He parried another wolf and kicked him away, turning his body half way, “I’ll take care of this! You two just get out of here!”

_ “I’ll take care of this!”  _ Wait-.

“Who-?” Mao Mao started and stopped when he saw the figure’s face, a gruff grey wolf with violet eyes, their cloak held together by a clasp with the same snake insignia as the lion’s spear and Iris’s knives. That solidified his resolve, “No, a hero never runs away! I’ll help you!” The wolf sighed and directed his gaze forward.

“Fine, just see if you can keep up with me.” Mao Mao looked at Cress who had one foot on the window sill.

“Ugh, fine, I want my revenge anyways, and I’m not letting  _ you _ go that easy flower boy.” The wolf scoffed and readied his sword, adopting an odd stance.

“Eyes forward!” He barked and Cress and Mao Mao readied themselves for a long fight.

* * *

Mao Mao lost track of time, winded from the constant action. Cress seamed just as exhausted, finally on his knees looking mournfully over the ravens that littered the floor, their savior on the other hand simply wiped blood off his sword with his cloak and sheathed it. “What a mess.” He sighed and stepped over the body of a wolf and looked at Mao Mao, “None of yours are dead.” He commented bluntly.

“Yeah, heroes don’t  _ kill  _ people.” Mao Mao glared at the wolf who’s expression softened with a light chuckle.

“Yeah, they don’t.” His tone was laced with some distant sorrow as he looked at Mao Mao, “Oh yes, I suppose I should introduce myself, it’s only polite. My name is Rose, I’m the leader of the Idyllic Serpents, we’re a… A specialized task force in the employment of the Moon Wolf Guild.” He cast an arm out giving a grandiose bow.

“Mao Mao, that lion, and Iris, they work with you.” Rose’s eyes widened at that.

“Mao…” He said quietly but quickly grew perplexed, “Lion? You’ve met Cosmos…? Why-? I know Iris had his exhibit but everyone else should have been on standby. I've been off island for the past week…” 

“You, have?” Cress spoke up, “Then why was Orchid chosen for the exhibition match?”

“Exhibition match?” Rose furrowed his brow, “Orchid I get but Cosmos wouldn’t… What’s going on here…” 

While Rose and Cress exchanged more information Mao Mao had a moment of realization, “Badgerclops!” He put his hand up to his ear, the earpiece was still there thankfully, “Badgerclops you there?” He asked and there was no response, “Where are you…” 

“Right…” Rose said and looked around, “You two need to leave, no one here can testify about you Mao Mao but Cress is obvious, he was a target, I’ll clean this mess up.”

“Right sure, c’mon Mao Mao I’ll give you a lift back to your hotel.” Cress headed to the open window but Mao Mao’s gaze stayed fixed on Rose who was making a few calls.

“... what?” Rose side eyed him and Mao Mao kept his eyes fixed on him, “Look you can try to arrest me for murder or whatever but I can outfight you, you’re clearly exhausted.”

“No that’s not it…” Mao Mao said quietly, there was something about him that was achingly familiar, a name, on the tip of his tongue but he couldn’t find it’s shape. “Who are you?” He asked and Rose sighed.

“I just told you-.”

“No. That’s not you,” He said it with full confidence, “You’re not Rose.” What was it? Why wasn’t it there, why was this gap here?

“We’ve never met, how would you even know.” His hand drifted to his sword belt, clearly growing tired of this.

“No, we have met…” Just something more, what wasn’t clicking here, what was this pain in his heart? “I almost didn’t recognize you, Zane.” The name fell into pure silence, Rose stood there hand on his sword with his eyes wide open.

“I thought you wouldn’t remember, my Gladiolus.” He sniffled a bit, lowering his head so Mao Mao couldn’t see his eyes.

“I’ve been through a lot, and it’s been so long, I’m surprised you do…” Rose laughed a bit.

“How could I?” His voice was breaking as tears fell from his eyes, “It’s been my only solace for so long, that summer I spent with you…” 


	14. My Gladioulus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact I had like, 90% of this chapter written when I decided to change things around and then had to rewrite a bit of it to make it shorter, so here we are. The climax is coming soon and I'm very excited.

It was late into May when Shin Mao asked Mao Mao to get in the car and join him on a brief trip, he was happy enough just to be considered for this by his father. Their destination was a grand mansion by the side of the lake, “Is this yours daddy?” Mao Mao asked and Shin laughed.

“No, it belongs to a friend of mine, now grab your bags and come along.” Mao Mao’s bags were vast, he was told to pack almost all his clothes and toys. Carrying them was an easy task for Shin as Mao Mao followed alongside him, Shin rang the doorbell of the mansion and they waited. After a bit of waiting the doors were opened by a wolf.

“Ah there you are Shin.” The wolf’s words were hasty and panicked, “Is this your son?” Shin nodded and the wolf returned it, “Good, give the stuff to the butler, come we’re gathered in the parlor.” The wolf headed off and Shin ducked inside and Mao Mao followed.

“Why don’t you go take a look around Mew Mew?” Shin patted him on the back and followed the wolf without waiting for a response. 

“Okay!” Mao Mao thought nothing of his father or his friend’s attitudes and looked around the foyer choosing one of the many halls to go down and peaked in every room. There were mostly just bedrooms and rooms with chairs and tables, it didn’t feel like someone actually lived in the mansion but everything was kept nice and clean, not a speck of dust anywhere. He eventually tired of checking room after room and stopped in front of a set of glass doors that led out to a quaint porch, he leapt up grabbing the high up handle pulling it down and swinging himself forward to push the doors open. He stepped through the gap he made and headed over to the railing looking out to the lake the mansion was next to. A cool breeze blew in from the lake providing relief from the heat of the early summer sun. Mao Mao set his bag aside and sat down under the railing and kicked his feet a little as they dangled off the porch, he sighed and let his smile fade, tired of the act. “Wish dad would just tell me what we were doing here… Knowing him he’s probably ditching me while he and my sisters go do something cool.” He reached over to his bag and put a paw on the scabbard of his sword, the only gift his father ever gave him.

“Umm…” A meek voice came from behind Mao Mao and he turned around to see who it was, there was a young wolf cub standing in the door frame pressing two of his claws together nervously. “What are you doing here?” He asked quietly and Mao Mao stood up and brushed his overalls off.

“My dad brought me here, what are  _ you _ doing here?” Mao Mao asked and the wolf bristled a bit and looked down at his feet.

“I live here…” He mumbled quietly. The boy was dressed in a suit, so Mao Mao figures someone dressed so fancy lived somewhere suitably fancy. His fur was a foggy grey, and his eyes a striking violet that stood out from his otherwise muted appearance.

“Ah, Sorry…” Mao Mao shifted awkwardly, he wasn’t used to talking to kids his own age, he didn’t have any idea what to do. 

“Oh uh, it’s rude to not introduce oneself…” The boy straightened his tie and bowed politely, “I’m Zane Wolfburg, third child of Edwin Wolfburg.” Mao Mao awkwardly mimicked the bow, not sure of how to properly respond.

“I’m Mao Mao Mao, uh, sixth child of the Legendary Hero Shin Mao! And I’m gonna be just as legendary as him someday!” Upon announcing who his father was Zane’s eyes lit up.

“Wow really?!” 

“Uhhuh! And someday I’m gonna be a hero even MORE legendary!” Mao Mao boasted putting his arm across his chest.

“Wow Mao! You’re super cool!” Zan’s meekness seemed to wash away as Mao Mao talked, “Heroes are super cool, I wanna be one too someday! Say, can we be friends? That way when we become heroes we can be heroes together!” Zane asked and Mao Mao brightened. Another friend! He has Bao Bao but now he’d have someone else too! He nodded eagerly and took Zane’s hands in his.

“The bestest!” Mao Mao smiled brightly as he held his friend's hands, “So uh… What do friends do?”

“Oh uh… I think we play games… Ooh I love hide and seek, I only ever play with my butlers and they just let me win…” Zane scoffed, Mao Mao had played hide and seek with his siblings a few times but that was when they were all much younger.

“Well I’m sure I’ll provide more of a challenge than those lame old guys.”

“Hehe, I bet. Alright, you hide, I’ll seek.” Zane covered his eyes and started to count, “One. Two. Three.” Mao Mao grabbed his bag and Geraldine and scrambled off back into the house, quickly sprinting down the winding halls trying to find a hiding spot. He noticed an open door and headed inside to a room with a long table covered in a cloth, seeing his chance he swept under the table and set his stuff down quietly.

“He’ll never find me under here!” And so Mao Mao sat in silence under the table trying to hold back his giggles as he thought about Zane’s searching for him. Suddenly, Mao Mao heard footsteps approaching the room, he covered his mouth to keep quiet as the door opened and people came inside.

“Are you sure this is a good idea Edwin? I think that-.” The first voice was Shin, he sounded upset, something Mao Mao rarely heard.

“You have to trust me on this Shin, if everything works out it’ll change the world as we know it!” Another voice, the wolf who greeted them early, spoke up.

“But are you sure Edwin? Surely there must be a better way.” 

“There is no better way Shin, young children like our sons are the perfect candidate for this.” Edwin said. Their sons? What were they talking about?

“Mee Mao doesn’t have those ‘qualifications’ you keep talking about, you’re thinking of one of my daughters.” Shin said and sighed, “Look I’m not on board with this weird project of yours, but I will help you deal with the situation in Everglow, of all the times for something like this to happen.” 

“It wouldn’t be a problem in the future with  _ my _ plans. But we should go as soon as possible, you packed enough clothes for your son for the summer?”

“Yes he has plenty.” Shin said and sighed, muttering something as the two left the room. Mao Mao waited until he could hear them anymore to let out a deep sigh.

“What were they talking about? It sounds really important, especially since daddy was involved…”

“Found you!” Zane suddenly lifted up the table cloth exposing Mao Mao.

“Ah rats.” Mao Mao grabbed his stuff and crawled out from under the table, “Guess I wouldn’t have much luck hiding from you in your own house.”

Zane giggled a bit and tilted his head, “What were you talking about by the way?” He asked and Mao Mao paused, unsure how to answer.

“Ah nothing, I overheard my dad say I was spending the whole summer here.” A twinge of sadness struck Mao Mao, his father was dumping him on someone else while he went off to do something cool, again. 

“Really? That gives us plenty of time to play! Alright I’ll go hide next, count to the highest number you can then come find me!” Zane rushed off and Mao Mao frowned once he was gone, something about this felt weird, but that didn’t matter, Mao Mao had a whole summer to play with his new friend. He shook off the bad feeling and started to count.

* * *

The summer went on like this with them playing games and spending every waking hour together, exploring the vast mansion and playing outside. Now it was the first week of June, and the fireflies were set to come out, the two were walking along a forest path alongside one of the butlers from the mansion, “This is the best spot to see when the fireflies come out!” Zane cheered as he led the way, as he and Mao Mao got closer his shyness all but vanished showing him to be a happy and cheerful kid.

“I’ve always wanted to see fireflies when they first come out. You can’t even see them from our house…” Mao Mao recalled one summer where he looked all over the house’s many balconies and over-looks for somewhere to see fireflies but never found anywhere. As they were walking Zane suddenly stopped and crouched down above a patch of flowers, “Why’d you stop?”

The wolf pointed at the flowers, “They’re Gladiolus, they’re symbols of strength and integrity.” Something Mao Mao had learned was that Zane really liked flowers, his bedroom was filled with samples and books on flower languages, something Mao Mao hardly understood. He carefully picked one and stood up presenting it to Mao Mao, “you shouldn’t pick wild flowers, but you remind me of these flowers.”

“Thanks!” Mao Mao took the flower happily, not sure what to do with it tucked it into his pocket so the flower itself was still showing. 

“Master Zane it’s almost time, it’s best that we move on quickly so we do not miss it.”

“Oh you’re right! C’mon Mao Mao it’s just up this hill!” Zane took Mao Mao’s paw and quickly hurried up the hill dragging him along with him, Mao Mao quickly started to move so he wouldn’t fall. As they came over the hill the forest gave way to a large field with long wild grass and flowers stretched out as far as Mao Mao could see, the two kids stopped just at the edge between the trees and grass. The violet sun setting in this distance sinking below the horizon as they stood in almost reverent silence, still holding hands as they watched dots of gold start to rise up from the field.

“Whoa…” Mao Mao let out a small gasp as they watched the fireflies rise and dance in the darkening sky. One made its way to the children and landed on the flower in Mao Mao’s shirt. He carefully pulled the flower out and stared at the glowing insect in awe.

“Aw man,” Zane said quietly, “we gotta head back, it’s gonna rain…” 

“Huh? But there’s no clouds-.” Mao Mao said and turned to face his friend but Zane averted his gaze, “Well, alright. At least we got to see them come out, right?” Zane quickly brightened.

“Right!” He turned back out to the field quickly startling the firefly on Mao Mao’s flower causing it to fly away, “I’ll never forget this sight, ever.” Zane said, as though trying to guarantee it to himself. Mao Mao shifted trying to find something to brighten the mood.

“Oh! Race you back to the house!” Mao Mao shouted and took off running down the path.

“What hey! That’s not fair!” Zane cried out chasing after him down the slowly darkening path.

Mao Mao made it back to the mansion before Zane did, despite Zane being bigger Mao Mao was certainly more athletic, “N-No… Hah…” Zane stopped at the foot of the hill panting, struggling to catch his breath, “Faaaair. You had a head start.”

“Hehe, well maybe you should just run faster, you’ve got longer legs after all.” 

“I want a rematch tomorrow!” Zane declared and Mao Mao nodded in agreement, “But for now I’m exhausted…”

“Yeah me too.” Mao Mao sighed and wiped sweat from his brow, “Ah man, your flower got all mangled while I was running…” He pulled it out of his overalls and stared at the crumpled petals.

“Awh… Hmm I think I could press it.” 

“Press it?”

“Ah yeah! C’mere!” Zane took Mao Mao’s free hand and pulled him into the house, and up the stairs quickly to his bedroom. Mao Mao had never been in Zane’s room for the month he’d been there, the first thing that struck him was the strong scent of flora. The room was covered wall to wall in fresh flowers, there was a desk with a half finished bouquet on it, and books scattered everywhere but the bookshelf in the corner. 

“Wow that’s a lot of flowers...” Mao Mao said, overwhelmed by the scent.

“Yeah, father hasn’t gotten back to me on getting a green house built so I have to do all my work here… Lemme see where do I keep my pressing stuff…” The wolf headed over to the work desk and started to sift through the tools and books. 

“You really like flowers huh…” Mao Mao said examining a pot with some flowers blooming in it, he couldn’t tell what they were but he could tell they were well cared for.

“Sure do! My mother was a famous florist, she grew all sorts of flowers, did arrangements, even made bouquets for royalty. She taught me everything I knew before she…” Zane trailed off the sadness apparent in his voice, “Ah, here we are! Mao Mao could you fill this up with water please? There's a sink in the bathroom next door.” Zane handed Mao Mao a glass vase.

“Ah sure thing!” He headed out of the room and into the hall, there were two rooms on the sides of Zane’s and Mao Mao paused looking at them. “Uh, which next door...” Well he supposed it didn’t matter so he chose the door on the left, rather than a bathroom he greeted by what felt much like an art studio, there was a paint splattered tarp on the ground and numerous art supplies. A black backdrop with a set of chairs was against the wall and before it stood a half painted canvas with four wolves on it. His fathers friend Edwin say in one chair and Zane sat in his lap, and in the other two wolves, a tall one in a dress and a short one in a suit stood by the sides of the empty chair, the shorter of the two bore a striking resemblance to Zane, the only different was his were a deep somber blue as opposed to Zane’s violet. 

Mao Mao frowned and backed out of the room shutting the door and headed to the other side, finding the bathroom and he filled the vase. While the faucet ran Mao Mao stared at his own face, he silently compared his bright green eyes to Zane’s violet, he tried to emulate Zane’s expression from the portrait, a young naive confidence but it didn’t look right on him, he imagined it wouldn’t look right on Zane either. He reckoned the vase was about filled and turned the faucet off and pulled the vase up carefully and carried it back to Zane’s room, “Here ya go! One water filled vase!”

“Thanks Mao Mao! Now why don’t you go wash up for dinner, I’ll take care of this!” Zane smiled as Mao Mao set the vase on his desk and he started to prepare a wide set of materials, “I’ll join you when I’m done with this we have to feed and rehydrate the flower before we can press it and that takes a bit.” Mao Mao smiled and thanked his friend before heading off, blissfully unaware of the sadness brewing behind his friends striking eyes.

* * *

It was now the start of August and Mao Mao and Zane had become inseparable, the two had started to do everything together as they prepared for Mao Mao’s inevitable departure. Since it wasn’t too hot Mao Mao decided to get some sword practice in, he still wasn’t good with Geraldine yet but he made do, Zane watched with his tail thrashing in excitement. “Wow swords are so cool! My brother has a bunch of swords but he doesn’t like me playing with them.” Mao Mao gave a smug laugh as he swung the oversized sword again.

“Well yeah, not everyone can be as great a swordsman as I!” He hefted the heavy blade up but soon lost his balance and fell on his back. Zane stifled a laugh as Mao Mao sat up and brushed himself off, “You wanna try?”

The proposition flustered the wolf, “Oh no, I’m fine. I don’t think I’d be any good with one. All I’m good at is playing with flowers…”

“Ah don’t say that, anyone can be a hero if they have the heart for it, at least that’s what daddy says. So if you work hard enough maybe you’ll be on my level one day.”

“Yeah! And when we’re older you can teach me how to use a sword just like you!” Mao Mao rushed over to the deck with a smile. 

“Yeah!” Mao Mao’s smile instantly faded when he saw a familiar truck land at the front of the mansion “Dad?”

“Huh-? But they weren’t supposed to be back…” Zane quickly stood up and headed inside and Mao Mao followed suit. They were immediately greeted by a full fledged shouting match when they got to the foyer.

“OUR FATHER WAS YOUR FRIEND!” A young wolf barked at Shin with balled fists and a sharp scowl.

“Yes and as his  _ friend  _ and greatest hero in the world you’d think I’d stand idly by while he did awful things? I saved you brats.” Shin scoffed avoiding eye contact with him.

“YOU RUINED US IS WHAT YOU DID!” He kept shouting at Shin not relenting in the slightest.

“Oh Zane, and the young Mao.” The other wolf from the portrait Mao Mao saw slipped past the arguing men, “Let’s go get you packed…”

“Lilith what happened to father?” Zane asked with no response, “Lilith?!” He looked desperately at his sister then at Shin who liked away trying to mask the pity in his eyes.

“Hurry up Mew Mew we have places to be.”

“Ah yes papa-.” Lilith quietly nudged the two kids out of the room towards the guest room where Mao Mao was staying with a sigh. Mao Mao had no doubt that this had something to do with what he had overheard at the start of the summer but his father already looked mad and didn’t want to make it worse.

After a rather hurried packing and double checking to make sure Mao Mao had everything Zane and Lilith escorted him out of the house to his fathers truck, “Sorry…” Lilith said ducking her head, Zane kept quiet for the most part, fiddling with a flower he grabbed from his room. 

“Everything all set? Then let’s hurry it up, I want to get out of here as soon as possible.” Shin grumbled as a butler loaded Mao Mao’s things into the truck. 

“I can still come and see Zane right?” Shin dismissed the question by ignoring it, “Well uh, I guess this is goodbye?” Zane didn’t speak, silently handing Mao Mao the flower he was holding and ran back inside.

“Ah Zane…” Lilith sighed, “A tulip huh. He’s very proud of those, you should feel honored.” Mao Mao simply stared at the flower and looked off to where his friend had ran, as their summer together came to an unceremonious end.

* * *

“What happened to you?” Mao Mao asked and Rose simply shrugged, wiping tears from his eyes.

“A lot… Too much to talk about here, how long are you going to be here?” 

“A few more weeks.” At that the wolf brightened.

“Ah you won the jackpot sweepstakes, congratulations. I’ll take care of this mess as fast as I can, I’d…” Rose smiled softly, “I’d love to catch up, Mao.” 

“This is cute and all but we really should get out of the ROOM OF DEAD BODIES!” Cress said with a huff, “Honestly your brother is the only one I can stand of you three…”

“I’m fine with that.” Rose shrugged and looked around, “Do you need any keepsakes?”

“Yeah, their clothes, we gotta set them out to sea on a burning boat.”

“I’ll send Violet by with them later.” He said and sighed, “I have my work cut out for me… I’ll see you around Mao.”

“Yeah, sure…” Mao Mao said and headed over to Cress who was still waiting by the window impatiently. He adjusted the earpiece again hoping Badgerclops would give him some sign he was okay. Cress suddenly picked up Mao Mao and pulled him close.

“Hang on tight okay? I can’t exactly hold you while flying.” Mao Mao followed instructions and clung to the Raven, “Right, well I’m out of here Rose, I’d say stay safe but…”

“Most everyone is in more danger than I am haha.” Something in laugh was malicious, “Better hurry I bet there’s more lapdogs on the way.” Cress nodded and leapt out the window taking flight into the warm night. Rose brushed his ears back with a sigh and flipped his hood back on adjusting his cloak. 

“There’s dangerous chess at play and we just lost all our pawns. Please stay safe, My Gladiolus.” 


End file.
